Ad Killers: A Threat?
Ad killers and pop-up zappers are gaining in popularity. Are they killing your ads?
Ad killers and pop-up zappers are gaining in popularity. Are they killing your ads?
Last week at an industry conference, I heard someone assert that 7 out of the top 10 downloads at Download.com were programs that blocked pop-ups and other Web advertisements. If this were true, it would be truly alarming. What if a substantial amount of the Web audience wasn’t seeing ads?
I went to Download.com and found the claim wasn’t true (although rankings change frequently). None of the site’s top 10 downloads were designed to block ads (although number 7, Ad-aware, removes adware and spyware, tracking and ad-serving programs that are downloaded along with popular software). Relieved, I decided to do an informal inventory of ad-blocking programs.
Even though I only looked at one download site (there are many others), what I found should serve as a caution to the industry. Although ad killers and pop-up blockers are not yet widespread, their easy availability could pose a threat to advertisers who rely on the Web to reach their audiences and sell their products.
Here are the facts:
Based on these facts, it is extremely doubtful that more than 1 percent of the U.S. Web audience currently blocks pop-up ads. The real number is probably far less. For most advertisers, especially those who don’t rely exclusively on pop-ups, this type of software is not currently a big problem.
Let’s put the issue in proper perspective. KaZaA, the peer-to-peer file “sharing” software that lets people trade MP3s, and Morpheus, a similar program, combine for a total of almost 250 million downloads. KaZaA gets more than 3 million downloads a week.
Compared to these programs, ad blocking is extremely rare. But file-sharing programs should serve as a cautionary tale to the online advertising industry. The music business is in serious decline, in part because of this type of free software.
I have written before in this space that I believe the pop-up issue is about frequency, not format. Research shows consumers find a few pop-ups an hour acceptable, but too many irrelevant ads degrade the Web experience. Of course, that depends on the audience, and I applaud sites such as iVillage and AOL that have made their own decisions based on research with their users.
There are advertisers, mostly of the Ginsu-knife class of companies, with a strip-mine attitude toward Web consumers. We can do little to stop them. But let’s not make the same mistake.
Unless advertising offers value to consumers, they’ll find a way to get rid of it. We need to continue to work to develop ways to make Web advertising relevant, informative, entertaining, and interesting. Otherwise, more consumers will find a way to make it go away.