How IDG got 38 per cent of ad blockers to whitelist its sites
But the company’s had success fighting back against ad blockers thanks to a tough-love approach. In January, when the company blocked people from accessing content on its U.S. sites unless they turned off their ad blockers, 38 per cent of visitors whitelisted its consumer sites (and 37 per cent on B2B sites).
It’s also emphasized messaging that explains that advertising supports IDG’s ability to deliver content.
“We’re trying lot of things to say to our readers, ‘We want you to get this content to you so you can do your jobs better’,” IDG CEO Mike Friedenberg said. “If we ask them over time, we’ll educate them.”
IDG has thought about charging for site access, but it sees limited opportunity, particularly in the U.S. It has seen success with asking people to register, though. A few years ago, it launched its Insider program on its B2B sites, which effectively charges the price of an email for premium content. Five years after launching the program, IDG has collected 500,000 emails — a database it can charge advertisers to use if they want to target prospective customers. “That’s working extremely well — that’s the equivalent of us getting them to swipe a credit card,” Friedenberg said of Insider.
