Question

1. Should content providers and advertisers panic because of ad blocking technology, or will consumers figure out that the internet will collapse without advertising revenue?

With the rise of Adblockers becoming more significant in everyday use content providers are understandably going to become panicked. From the webpage ‘Native Advertising Institute they explain just how much the use of Adblockers has increased. “eMarketer predicts 1 of every 3 Internet users will use ad blockers by 2017, more than twice the 15% that did in 2014. Adobe estimates ad blockers have globally cost advertisers $22B in revenue during 2015.” This also shows how much revenue companies are losing, with this number only going to increase with the people who use adblockers. These numbers make it understandable for content providers to panic but they then have to come up with ways that would make consumers want to watch the ad or at least not skip them. Consumers may not understand what the impact of using adblockers are so this may be the first step advertisers and content providers could address.

2. What should advertisers do to create advertising that consumers want to view? Can creativity or new types of promotion (e.g., mobile apps) circumvent ad blocking technology?

Advertisers and content providers need to understand that ad blockers are always going to be available to the public so they have to come up more creative ways to limit the number of users that want to use them. According to Matthew Zajechowski on the website ‘Adblocking and its effects on Advertisers and Publishers,’ he says that “Crafting the right message is important. Make sure you truly know your customers. Don’t rely on third-party data, which is often old and unreliable.” Once the advertisers can collect this data and use it as efficiently and effectively as possible they will then be able to serve the relevant ads that their consumers care about.

3. Should content providers play “hardball” with consumers who use ad blocking technology (e.g., not allow them to access websites if they are using ad blocking technology)? Is there a “legal” solution to this problem for content providers and advertisers?

As explained in the article by Morrison and Peterson called “Yes, There is a War on Advertising. Now What?” Hulu experimented with blocking individuals who block ads. Although this is an extreme solution that Hulu implemented I can’t blame for doing so as the revenue they make through advertising is so significant. A solution that they could use is to make them pay for ‘Ad-free’ watching. This may sound contradictory but as they will then be making money through a different route. This means they can still keep larger deals with the advertising companies. At the end of the day if there is a TV show, movie, or other videos that a consumer wants to watch they’ll find a way, so, if content providers want to block individuals they’ll be losing customers that they could be having.

4. What is your prediction about ad blocking technology and its success or failure in the marketplace? What will digital advertisers’ fate be five years from now with respect to being able to reach consumers with digital advertising messages?

Ad blocking technology has been a success in relation to how they wanted it to be served, however, it has had a negative effect on advertisers and their content providers. With technology becoming more and more advanced only the previous five years it is only going to get better over the next five years. This means I can only see the ad blocking technology following this trend. Advertisers need to come up with ways to compete against this. This will be hard but they need to make sure they spend their time and money effectively and effectively to be able to fight against the adblockers. A Forbes article called “14 Effective Strategies to Overcome Ad Blocking” gives good examples of how companies can do this. Some of the techniques that companies could implement include; be an ethical advisor, focus on the user experience and diversify your marketing efforts.

Do you agree or disagree with the group member on one or more points of discussion? Why or why not?

Answer 1

This discussion is divided in four parts.

Question one analyses the revenue loss from ad blocking from user's end with some statistics. Second view talks about what action can advertisers take to make people watch these ads. Creativity is a action offered. The third view checks the possibility whether customer will forced to pay for ad free telecast. The last view talks about the possible solutions and focusing in user experience. Being an ethical advisor and diversifying marketing efforts is considered as he steps to make people watch ads.

I agree to the whole discussion as it addresses the problem holistically and clarifies the doubts with proper statistics and solutions.

However, i believe that solutions are already in place and advertsisers are using them smartly with the help of big data analysis.