Ad Blockers and How They Impact Publishers Loss of Revenue

If you are a digital publisher who relies on ad revenues to drive your business, the growing trend of using ad blockers is nothing short of an existential threat to your operation. That might sound a little alarmist, but it’s hard to say where this development will end. If the use of ad blockers becomes more and more commonplace – even standard – it could become nearly impossible to drive revenue through ads alone.

Don’t worry –  this post isn’t going to be all doom and gloom. Rather, we are going to attempt to take a balanced, fair look at the topic of ad blockers to understand what they mean for publishers and how you can thrive despite their presence. This is an important topic, so we hope you find value in the discussion below.

The Scope of the Problem

From the user’s perspective, it’s easy to understand the growing popularity of ad blockers. Without having to look at ads, the experience of visiting many websites is much cleaner and less distracting. However, many people may not understand the impact that this action is having on the publishers that deliver the content they love. Without the ability to monetize through ads, much of what makes the internet such a great resource could quickly fade away.

It has been estimated in a study by PageFair that ad blockers were responsible for somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 billion of lost revenue just in 2022. Obviously, this is a huge issue, and it doesn’t seem likely that it is going to get better anytime soon. Smaller publishers seem to be particularly feeling the strain of this movement since they might not have the resources available to switch to other revenue sources as quickly as larger companies.

How to Respond as a Publisher

As an individual website owner and publisher, there isn’t much you can do about the growing movement toward ad blockers. Sure, you could ask your audience not to use a blocker when visiting your site – and explain the impact that these tools have on people like you – but such appeals are unlikely to make much of a significant impact.

In general terms, you have a couple of choices on your site – use technology to actively fight back against ad blockers, or attempt to turn to other sources of revenue to make up for what you have been losing. As far as stopping visitors from using ad blockers, there are tools that will detect when an ad blocker is in use and will ask the user to disable it. If they decline, access to your content can be restricted. This is an aggressive approach, obviously, and won’t be met with a positive response by some of your audience. However, some may respect the situation you are in and decide that they are okay with your ads as a way of supporting your site.

The alternative tactic here is to find other ways to make money on your site that go beyond ads. You can still display ads, as some of your audience won’t be using ad blockers and you can still generate some money with that approach. Then, you can add on other revenue models like paywalls that protect some of your best content, subscription services to something like a paid newsletter, or even selling products (digital or physical). It can be difficult and time-consuming to get an alternative revenue model up and running, but the potential for it to generate meaningful income is significant.

There is an argument to be made that diversifying your revenue streams is a worthwhile tactic even if the ad blockers aren’t too much of a problem. Having more ways to make money is always better than less, as a sudden change to one of your revenue streams won’t completely sidetrack your business if you have other ways to make money.

We Have Your Solution

RevCatch provides a suite of tools to help online publishers and content creators optimize revenue streams, especially from users who block ads. It includes features such as ad block detection, reporting, and management to recover lost ad revenue. Additionally, RevCatch offers solutions like subscription accelerators, newsletter enrollment, and database conversion tools to increase paid subscriptions and grow email lists.

The platform offers four main services: RevAnalytics for ad block analytics, RevDetect for ad management, RevUp for subscription optimization, and RevBoost for newsletter database growth. These tools can be customized to fit business needs, offering flexible plans without long-term contracts.

RevCatch helps businesses recover lost ad revenue, boost subscriptions, and grow their consumer engagement through various detection, analytics, and engagement tools tailored to counter ad blockers and enhance monetization strategies.

Where Do We Go from Here?

In the bigger picture, it’s important to think about and understand where online publishing may be going and how you can plan ahead. Most people would likely agree that a complete reversal in the pushback against ads is unlikely. Plenty of people hate seeing ads and the safe bet is that more and more people are going to join that camp.

That doesn’t mean that online publishing as a money-making venture is dead, however. In fact, this could be seen as an opportunity for publishers who are willing to lean into the quality of their content and make sure that what they put out to the world is too valuable to be ignored. With great content, you’ll be more easily able to sell subscriptions, get people to allow you to show them ads, and take other actions that generate your revenue.

Also, there are ways that you might be able to upgrade the quality of your ads to a point where they aren’t stopped by ad blockers. Certain types of ads are allowed through many ad blockers, as they aren’t considered obtrusive or unsafe. Paying attention to the constant evolution in the space to make sure you are on the right track is going to be critical in the years to come.