05 October 2015

UK publishers mixed on how to combat ad blocking

More than two thirds (65 per cent) of publishers see ad blocking as the “most significant threat” to their business, according to the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), the UK industry body representing digital publishing companies. The AOP, whose members include the Guardian, Trinity Mirror, ESI Media and Condé Nast, has released its annual Content and Trends Census, which addresses the topic of ad blocking for the first time since the report started in 2006.

Some publishers, like The Washington Post, are fighting with fire by restricting content when ad blockers are detected. Twenty-seven percent of the 30 publishers polled in the AOP report said they’d consider introducing registration or blocking editorial content for those with ad blockers installed.

At the AOP’s Autumn Conference 2015, which took place in London 1 Oct, Digiday asked media experts and publishers: What’s the solution to ad blocking?

Lisa Tookey, commercial director, Jamie Oliver Media Group
There’s a huge difference between programmatic display advertising and premium-sponsored content. There needs to be a two-tiered ad blocking system, and the most premium version of that is that you block all commercial messages. Publishers need to come together to determine what that two-tiered system is.