One of the bigger news stories to be emerging this week is how Google is now rolling out its long-awaited and highly-reported on ‘ad blocker’ for Chrome. While the feature is not due to go live until February 15 Google has been releasing a number of statements on the topic to further help both end users and website owners to better understand what the feature is, and how it will work. The first of these posts came through on Tuesday and looked to explain how Chrome’s ad filter is designed to keep the Chrome experience a “healthy” one and even if it does come at a cost to Google in terms of potential revenue from ‘bad’ ads. The second post came through earlier today and looked to further explain the finer details of the filtering including how ads will be determined as either acceptable or intrusive.
The two posts having been released in quick succession, and even before the actual feature goes live, is a clear indicator of just how serious the issue is from Google’s perspective. Which is understandable as ad revenue is a big deal for Google and this is an aspect which will likely trouble some in the industry. Therefore, making sure everyone (including end users and websites) are on board will be an important ambition for Google as it looks to make the transition of Chrome to an ad-filtering entity a successful one. With that in mind we have reached out to various industry members and advertising-related experts to find out their views on the topic and how they see Chrome’s ad filter impacting on the Chrome experience, as well as any implications it might have for the wider market.
Some of the experts below have provided general comments on the release of the Chrome ad filter while others have provided specific answers to more direct questions. In either case their reponses have been included in full.
Mike Kisseberth Chief Revenue Officer, Purch – a digital publishing and marketplace platform for some of the largest tech properties on the internet
“We believe the blocks the browsers are implementing are a good thing. Users have been signaling for years that the ad experience is not what they want by implementing ad blockers. The Coalition for Better Ads has done user research to establish what is an acceptable experience and Chrome is backing that insight with this move. For the publishers that have been pushing the limit on monetization, this gives them a clear framework to comply with or suffer the consequences. If this ends up killing the most annoying ad formats, the users will be happier, the marketers won’t be able to buy them any more and their spend will go to more acceptable ad formats and the digital ad ecosystem gets cleaner. So while there maybe some short term pain to comply with these standards, the end result should be good for all players except those vendors powering the annoying ad formats.”
Ed Montes, President, Solutions, and CRO, dataxu
“Anything designed to improve the consumer experience, including ad blocking, is a good thing. Consumers no longer accept the historic quid pro quo of advertising for content, technology enables them to avoid unwanted interruption, over frequency or simply pay for an ad free environment. Ad blockers don’t go far enough in persuading the industry to improve the ad experience. Today, Advertisers must provide real value with every touchpoint or face being ignored (at best) or completely discounted.”
Keith Sibson, Vice President, Product & Marketing, PostUp
Q: The impact Google’s ad-blocking version of Chrome would have on publishers and their ad revenue?
A: “Google is using its market power with Chrome (60% share), to try to improve the ‘user experience’ of the internet, and specifically the web. Without debating what constitutes a good user experience and whether Google should get to decide this, their business motivation is that Google makes more money when lots of people are spending lots of time on the web. In their view, aggressive ads hurt the web experience, especially on mobile, and drive users into the arms of relatively uncluttered walled gardens like Facebook. Google absolutely has the will and ability to reduce or eliminate (subjectively) aggressive ads like autoplay video, full screen takeovers, and frequent pop ups. Publishers that currently rely on this type of ads will likely lose 60% of the revenue associated with them.”
Q: Publishers top concerns ahead of the changes in February?
A: “Publishers using low key advertising techniques like banners and native ads have nothing to worry about. Publishers using more aggressive techniques better have a plan to replace the revenue.”
Q: Solutions available for publishers to protect ad revenue/prevent ad blocking?
A: “At the risk of sounding defeatist, it is a bad idea to try to subvert or block Google’s ad blocking. This was fine when defending against the myriad of ad blockers, none of which have overwhelming market share – a fair fight. But Google is the 800 pound gorilla of the Internet. They have all the power, and can seriously hurt your site. When publishers have tried to subvert Google algorithms in the past it has usually ended badly for them, up to and including being delisted in search results. A better strategy is to produce quality content that people want to read, advertise alongside it non-aggressively, and even better charge a subscription fee to access it. Long term, work to grow a direct relationship with your audience, email is a great channel for this.”
Lisa Miano Bartosiewicz, Associate Director, Digital Ad Operations, MNI Targeted Media
“Similar to when Google pushed forward HTML, it forced the industry as a whole to adopt. For better or worse, the power that Google wields allows change to happen. In this case, it is the largest single push toward cleaning up the ad environment.
When you hear the words ‘ad blocker’ the implication is that this is immediately negative for the industry — for publishers, for advertisers, etc. However, in reality, Google’s release of a built-in tool can be a game changer in a positive way. Currently ad blockers that are in use, block all ads. In comparison, the initiative by Google is meant to act as a cleanup tool, following the guidelines proposed by the Coalition for Better Ads.
Publishers that rely on the type of ads that deliver a poor user experience for consumers and brands alike will feel the most immediate impact. For example, autoplay ads, those that follow users along the page or the website, have more ads than actual content. For the vast majority of publishers, this initiative will help them better the environment for their consumers by inherently weeding out the advertisers that push poor experience ads to their readers.
Publishers may have to change their web experience to optimize toward this ‘filter’- an example being a site that has a higher ratio of ads than content, this means adjusting the number of ads on a page in view to a consumer. Publishers that are unsure if their ads are at risk for being blocked, can quickly and easily check their website against a tool that Google released as part of the effort to help publishers maximize and adopt.
While the immediate ‘wins’ in this rollout are more toward the consumer — better ads, better site experiences with unobstructed content and possible increased load times — the larger, positive effect on the ad industry and publishers will take more time to see.”
Michael Lehman, VP, TripleLift
“Chrome’s new Adblocker targets ads that are highly intrusive, disruptive and make content consumption more challenging – particularly on mobile devices. As such, the development will be welcomed by consumers. However, publishers may feel some short-term advertising revenue pain from the release, but a marketplace that runs on more respectful ad formats will result in a better user experience, a stronger ROI for marketers and a more loyal audience which results in a healthier, long-term ad business for publishers.”
Rich Kahn, CEO and co-founder, eZanga the company who runs ad fraud software, Anura
“While the Collation for Better Ads is Google’s yardstick for what is considered a ‘bad ad,’ it’s still the big brother in determining what they consider a bad ad. This decision will impact business that rely on advertising for their business model and, from what has been published, this will be a default setting for all users rather than an opt-in. This in essence removes the bad ads, according to what the Coalition for Better Ads indicates is ‘bad,’ or Google’s interpretation of what is considered a ‘bad ad.’ This is just another example of yet another large company stepping in and determining rules “set by a coalition” and deciding what people want. Although the intent may be good, it’s still not an opt-in service, it’s an opt-out service. It’s forced upon the user to take an action to opt-out and many may not even be aware that this is happening.
Roughly one third of the internet will not be given a choice (roughly 1/3 of the internet uses Chrome as their primary browser) and will be forced to use this product. Take Safari for example: when there is an update there is a message notating all the upgrades and changes that you will see as a user through that browser update. If an update is released, it may say ‘hey, this new feature is on, but if you’d like to turn it off, go here.’ That at least puts the decision in the users court. So much for a free internet!
I have mixed reviews on this. Until I see the release for myself, I can only assume the decisions being made, regardless of how Google spins it, are going to affect Google first and foremost in the most positive way. After all, they are a business and when it comes down to gray area items, they are the ones deciding what to block and what not to block. Google should not be the one controlling or overseeing that; who is regulating them?”
Victor Wong, CEO, Thunder
“The winners from Google’s new ad blocker are consumers and brand marketers who will enjoy better ad experiences. Consumers will see fewer ads per page and less intrusive ad formats. Brand marketers will have an easier time reaching their target consumers who won’t turn to more aggressive forms of ad blocking that stop all ads. In many ways this isn’t too dissimilar to when browsers began to start blocking automatic pop-ups from loading — the only real losers were ad networks and less scrupulous marketers.”
Vipul Mistry, Senior Business Development Manager, Intermarkets
“The introduction of ‘ad-blocking’ in Google Chrome definitely perked publishers’ ears in the summer of 2017. With Chrome representing nearly 60% of the market share, blocking ads will undoubtedly have an impact on publisher revenue. However, I believe that revenue impact will be limited, in particular for quality publishers. Google provided a tool to determine questionable practices and allowed ample time to eliminate over-the-top ad experiences. It’s a step in the right direction for publishers, as user experience should trump maximizing revenues. Better user experience leads to increased engagement, greater time on the site and repeat visitors, resulting in more revenue. Users are comfortable with ads; they just don’t want ads that interfere and interrupt with their reading/viewing experience. Publishers unwilling to clean up their sites will quickly learn less is more and that intrusive ad experiences will never work in the long run, especially if they start to lose ad revenue.”
Daniel Meehan, CEO and Founder, PadSquad – an on-demand creative and innovation partner for mobile rich-media advertising
“Chrome’s ad blocker will impact consumers in that it eliminates the lingering intrusive ads on the internet, conforming to Coalition for Better Ads standards. For brands, agencies, ad tech firms and publishers that have been prioritizing consumer experience and polite ad engagement, this won’t affect anything.
The companies that will see change are those that continue to act in poor faith toward consumers, feeding them disruptive advertising while chasing a faulty idea of clicks. Those publishers that stick with those ad formats will be dinged by Google. And eventually with demand dried up, the ad tech vendors that continue to produce these poor ad formats will either be forced to change or disappear altogether.”
Bill Jennings, CEO, Beachfront Media – a leading programmatic mobile video advertising company who works closely with WhiteOps, Pixelate, among others
“Chrome’s ad-blocker is another step in the fight against ad fraud and in favor of brand safety. These disruptive ad formats are cheap and easy for bad actors to create while chasing clicks. Pushing for better ads prioritizes safety and quality, and more of a premium experience for consumers when visiting publisher sites or engaging with video content.”