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Does Adblock Plus hurt Google’s AdSense publishers?
Downloading the Adblock Plus extension for Firefox is easy. It takes under a minute. Activating it takes a few seconds and once the browser has relaunched, Google AdSense ads become a distant memory.
People who install Adblock Plus or similar extensions, in either Firefox or Internet Explorer, do it for a variety of reasons…
- some hate advertising, flat out;
- some want to protest against Google’s privacy policies, which may be viewed as intrusive;
- some never click on the ads, so they see no point in viewing them;
- some want a faster browsing experience; and finally
- some just follow a mass movement against online advertising.
But when people refuse to view the ads that pay for the free content they’re accessing, it endangers the entire online advertising ecosystem, especially the one involving Google AdSense and its publishers.
By using Adblock Plus when visiting ad supported web destinations, regular visitors become freeloaders. These people take all the free content and leave nothing behind, no even being courteous enough to even tolerate the generally non-intrusive ads accompanying that content.
Given the popularity of Adblock Plus, being the number one extension for Firefox, popularitywise, this means web publishers are going to have to find alternative ways to make money, such as…
- relying solely on Google Custom Search (beta) which isn’t currently blocked — and that’s a long shot, to say the least;
- switching to alternative advertising service but since they pay roughly 10 to 100 times less than Google, that’s a losing proposition that won’t pay the bills;
- ending the universal access to free content, limiting the free stuff to marketing purposes only and charging for memberships to access the previously free content;
- syndicating the locally produced and owned content to a larger network which still hasn’t been affected by Adblock Plus, yet.
That’s a lot of trouble to counter a handful of nasty ad blocking extensions but as the web publisher continues to reach new lows, there seems to be little other choice, in order to make ends meet.
Adblock Plus and similar extensions are probably the main reason why publishers see very high stats in their internal counters and much lower counts, according to Google. The difference is likely comprised of all the users that visited with such extensions on.
Keep in mind Adblock Plus —also— kills the Google Analytics code so trying to make sense of the numbers accumulated there isn’t even possible since a large portion of visitors aren’t accounted for. Yikes! So much for analytics…
So with all this in mind, it’s not hard to see that Adblock Plus and similar extensions are hurting web publishers, big time. So much so that an entire nascent online publishing industry is being strangled as it tries to emerge.
It’s like as if somebody sold a system to block all ads when reading newspapers, or watching TV or listening to the radio. It would have devastating consequences but online, it’s even worse since this media is still in its infancy.
People who value liberty, independent opinions and fair use should be enraged that ad blocking extensions even exist. If a web site has too much advertising for one’s taste, go elsewhere. When the web publisher sees his traffic count going down, he’ll get the message and change things to the visitors’ liking. There’s no need to block all the ads… for all sites, at once!
So, is Google also hurting, because of these ad blocking extensions?
Within its web publisher (affiliates) network, yes. Google hurt should follow the same curve as the downfall in revenue web publishers have been seeing for the last few months, especially since September 2008 and even worse, since February 2009.
However, the way Google displays its ads within its own search engine make it immune to ad blockers, there. As such, Google hasn’t been losing one penny from ad blockers, within its own search empire.
Also, everybody knows that the same link clicked in a publisher’s web page will usually bring between 6 and 18 times less money than the exact same link clicked within a Google Customer Search (beta) search results page. The logic behind this is probably that Google values its own web property above all others, even quality independent sites.
So while Google looks as strong as ever, every other AdSense publisher out there seems to be dying. Some slowly. Some, much faster. The smaller publishers being the first to call it quits.
Maybe that’s why Google hasn’t retaliated (legally or otherwise) against Adblock Plus.
They’re still making boatloads of money so why should they care if their web publishers are being driven into financial distress? Seriously, Google being the sole “safe” outlet to publish the pay-per-click ads, they may even be making MORE MONEY because of Adblock Plus.
So, the web publishers need to figure out a way out of this trap, by themselves…
- Adblock Plus and similar extensions will likely continue to thrive (until the free web dies); and
- Google isn’t moving to help out publishers… even as they’re being driven out of business.
Using scripts to force visitors to deactivate such extensions will likely become the norm because the financial drain is so bad that there’s just no other choice but that’s awful because web publishers are forced to confront their visitors because third party ad blocking extension makers have decided to attack them, head on.
Until such anti-ad blocking scripts are coded, web publishers will continue to feel the punishing crunch in their Google AdSense revenue. As bas as it is, the situation could get a lot worse.
Yes, web publishing was wonderful for a while but Adblock Plus and similar extensions are ruining the entire experience for everyone and accelerating the end of the free web, in the process.
Tags: adblock plus, google adsense, adsense, abblock, ad block, ad blockers, ad blocking, advertising, online ads, deleted ads, ads ripped out, ads not rendered, web publishers, ad revenue, sponsored links, free content, quality content, ad zones, visitors, adsense stats, ecpm, number of visitors, number of clicks, ad conversion, firefox, internet explorer, ie8, extensions, plugins, membership-based access, paid content
9 Responses to “Does Adblock Plus hurt Google’s AdSense publishers?”
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The amount of info you can get when you integrate AdSense with Analytics is significant. You get to know the pages which are getting the most ad clicks and which are making the most money, for you.
[...] that were to happen, as is the case with AdBlock Plus for Firefox, it would have the potential to destroy large parts of the online advertising industry [...]
[...] I wouldn’t be able to speak on behalf of those who do. You can find an elaborate article from Beep.name about using Adbock Plus. While there are some interesting points on the table, I personally stand by my motto of the free [...]
Let me clear up a major misconception regarding Adblock Plus: simply installing the software blocks NOTHING. You have to create filters or subscribe to a filter list to block anything. If you have a complaint, it is with the filter list creator.
Web site owners caused this “problem” with their excessive/intrusive ads and overly nosy tracking (does the phrase “web bugs” ring a bell?). Adblock Plus is the backlash to your own handywork.
[...] people behind all the ad blockers, like AdBlock Plus thought they were really smart to block web publishers’ [...]
I am just starting out with Google Adsense. I’m hoping that I would earn a good deal of money on this program.
@Joe User: but the first thing you do after you install it is to enable the filters and the main filter is a subscriber filter that blocks thousands of ad sources. Otherwise why install software that does nothing!?
[...] high quality content and hope to make a few dimes from Adsense! In a sense, I feel (and so do others) that the more people install and use this addon, the narrower will the "world of free [...]
I have two questions related to Google AdSense…
1. Can I show third party ads in my blog as ads shown in your site… e.g; Wordans and eCost dot com plus Google ads in same page?
2. Can I show ads as shown together in this middle of the page e.g; Wordans and Google?
Thanks in advance…