Many of the world’s largest Internet companies, like Google and Facebook, rely heavily on advertising to finance their online empires.
But that business model is increasingly coming under threat, with one in five smartphone users, or almost 420 million people worldwide, blocking advertising when browsing the web on cellphones. That represents a 90 percent annual increase, according to a new report from PageFair, a start-up that helps to recoup some of this lost advertising revenue, and Priori Data, a company that tracks smartphone applications.
The use of ad-blocking software has divided the online world. Supporters say it allows people to get better access to content without having to suffer through abrasive ads. Opponents, particularly companies that rely on advertising, say blocking ads violates the implicit contract that people agree to when viewing online material, much of which is paid for by digital advertising.
Mobile ad blockers, though, have become particularly widespread in emerging markets, where people are more reliant on their smartphones to use the Internet.
Already, 36 percent of the smartphone users in the Asia-Pacific region have so-called ad-blocking browsers on their mobile devices, allowing them to remove online ads when they use the Internet. In India and Indonesia — two of the world’s fastest-growing Internet markets — that figure is almost two-thirds of smartphone users, according to the report.
Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/international/smartphone-ad-blocking-software-mobile.html
What is interesting about this is that the western world still puts up with ads apart from the nerd demographic which blocks them on principle
That is very good news! Steemit is the solution!
Ha Ha. Yes it is! A way to reward content creators when you choose rather than the forced relationship with advertisers.
Wouldn't it be great if this site became greater than Facebook, and the main advertisers bought Steem to upvote stuff? One minute you are writing about how some widget or other saved your life (or at least your child's birthday party or something important) and the next, you've been upvoted by the manufacturer of said widget and are on the front page. You've made money, they've got publicity, it's win-win.
I'm waiting for the Brave to implement their Ads replacement/revenue sharing with user model in their browser. I don't mind ads per say but I hate the tracking part or the malware delivery medium.
I'll put in my 2 cents as far as ad-blocking goes. First off, yesterday, I got my first advertisement provided by a page that I actually had to pull the battery out of my phone and restart, as the ad had completely taken over the OS, complete with system level error messages, and locking the home and power buttons with only the option of "download antivirus software now" button. Nope, didn't lock the phone, just make it so I could scroll through the error and click on the download button.
Second, ad companies at least on mobile devices completely forget there are still phone plans that measure bandwidth allotment in the megabytes...and you want me to watch this auto-play video showing your wares? Yeah, you want paid, but enough with the video ads on mobile devices. When the advertising is taking up 99% of a webpage bandwidth, there is a huge problem.
While these issues are dedicated to the mobile realm, they also apply to the desktop realm as well. Except there are more malicious things ads can do, especially when they use Flash or Javascript, as these can sometimes lead to malware and viruses, and other nasties that can sneak into any computer that is capable of viewing the ad, even with up to date Flash or java runtime engines.
I am in total support of ad-blockers, until the ad providers can clean up their act, and get some decent QC in their ads they provide.