As part of this commitment to ensure sustainable free and open web ecosystem, Google started to implement its plan for the Chrome browser to filter ads on 15 February. The filtering is based on the threshold of consumers’ reception of ads, as set jointly by industry with the Better Ads Standards of the Coalition for Better Ads which are applicable in desktop web and mobile web environments in Europe and North America based on research reflecting the views of more than 40,000 users in these geographies.

The webinar was presented by Scott Spencer, Director of Sustainable Advertising, and Jan Hardrat, Publisher Solutions Specialist, Central Europe at Google, and followed by a Q&A session, and as a whole hosted by Greg Mroczkowski at IAB Europe. Among Scott Spencer’s wide-ranging responsibilities are the processes, policies, and algorithms that help Google fight bad ads, sites, and scams, as well as the company’s efforts to contribute to the improvement of the sustainability of the overall advertising ecosystem, which includes collaboration with the Coalition for Better Ads to fight the bad ad experiences. Whereas Jan Hardrat in his role works on initiatives such as Ad Experience Report and Funding Choices, as well as on programmatic advertising solutions, yield monetization and platform efficiencies.

Speakers:

Scott Spencer, Director of Sustainable Advertising, Google	Jan Hardrat, Publisher Solutions Specialist, Central Europe, Google

In order to improve the consumer experience, leading international trade associations and companies in the online media ecosystem have joined forces to create the Coalition for Better Ads. The Coalition conducts research in order to develop data-driven standards for online advertising. The goal is to measure consumers’ preferences about the types of ads they least prefer, in order to help the global marketplace take steps to deliver a better ad experience.

In the first phase of the Coalition’s research, more than 25,000 Internet users in North America and Europe were surveyed about their preferences for different types of online ads. The research included desktop web (55 ad experiences) and mobile web (49 ad experiences). The results of the Coalition’s consumer-focused research define Better Ads Standards that identify the ad experiences that fall beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability.

Better Ads Standards reveal the least preferred, most annoying ad experiences that are also most likely to cause consumers to adopt ad blockers. Here are a series of useful links to understand what the Initial As Standards are about:

Mobile Web Ad Experiences: Least preferred formats

The following types of ad experiences were least preferred by consumers and beneath the initial Better Ads Standard for mobile web:

• Pop-up ads
• Prestitial ads
• Mobile pages with more than 30% ad density
• Flashing animations
• Poststitial ads that require a countdown to dismiss
• Fullscreen scrollover ads
• Large sticky ads
• Auto-playing videos with sound

Desktop Web Ad Experiences: Least preferred formats

The following types of ad experiences were least preferred by consumers and beneath the initial Better Ads Standard for desktop web:

• Pop-up ads
• Auto-playing videos with sound
• Prestitial ads with a countdown
• Large sticky ads

Infographic: Ad Experiences that fall beneath the Initial Better Ads Standards

Get the slides here.

In February 2017, the IAB released that 22.1% of British adults online are using an ad blocker. When looking at the IAB data year on year the number of people ad blocking has stabilised. From the research we can’t be sure about exactly why this is but possible influencing factors are:

• Publishers denying ad blocking users access to their content via either a “wall” or via technology that restricts content alongside ads (24% of respondents cited this as the main reason for switching their ad blocker off).
• People spending more time on mobile devices, where ad blocking levels are presently much lower compared to desk/laptops.
• Media owners improving the advertising experience they offer. For instance, by adopting the IAB LEAN principles.

However, analysing the results wasn’t entirely straight forward, the research also showed that 18% of current ad blockers did not name an actual ad blocker, citing instead their anti-virus software or a non-existent ad blocker, when asked which software they used. This suggests that the actual number of people blocking ads in Britain is lower than 22.1% - trusting people to self-report accurately is one of the problems when using claimed survey data.

In an attempt to get as close to the truth as possible we cross referenced the IAB’s latest data with other sources from around the industry. This was made complicated as different companies are conducting research in different ways, so it did genuinely feel like a mystery that needed solving.

We have summarised and drawn conclusions using ad blocking data from the IAB and three other companies: eMarketer, PageFair and comScore which you can read in more detail here.

One interpretation of all these data points is that ad blocking isn’t accelerating at speed, as was once feared, and that less than 22.1% of British adults online are using an ad blocker but, in all honesty we don’t know for absolute certain yet. What we do know is the industry has to continue to work hard to offer audiences a high-quality experience when advertising to them online.

So, on the subject of ad blocking, the truth definitely is out there and the IAB, alongside others, will continue acting as Mulder and Scully on the industry’s behalf.

Overview of IAB UK's latest adblocking research

<strong> Get the slides <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/IAB_Europe/iab-uk-report-ad-blocking-the-truth-is-out-there?ref=https://iabeurope.kinsta.cloud/blog/member-blog-iab-uk-ad-blocking-the-truth-is-out-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</strong>

You can browse the report or download it below.

With over 3.5 million individual visitors and 90 million page views per month, Tweakers, belonging to De Persgroep’s portfolio, is the largest electronics and technology website in the Netherlands and Belgium. Despite such a strong position on the market, Tweakers has been confronted with a grave dilemma: content versus commerce and more generally paid versus free content. Although we never doubted in rich and valuable content being a priority over pure commerce, the pressure on the traditional revenue models started to build up with the rise of the ad blockers. While all online media publishers are being confronted with the issue, our predominantly tech savvy community made it even more challenging. In our case we found the problem also proved to be the solution, which turned the thread into an opportunity with continuously growing (financial) potential.

Whitelisting

In 2014, we undertook our first action against ad blocking, when we decided to place a (fall back) banner on our site directly addressing users with an adblocker. A message from our editor-in-chief in which he honestly and transparently explained our business model, whereby as a website we depend on advertising in order to continue to deliver high quality content to our users. We asked those visitors to stop blocking and start whitelisting, in order for us to continue to do what we do best and in order for them to continue enjoying this for free.

The campaign, which led to a reduced level of ad blocking and increased whitelisting, was the first step in opening up a dialogue with users with regards to the topic of ad blocking. Surely not the last one, though. We do understand the criticasters, and we often take a critical view to ourselves: if we promise ‘free’ content, advertising should never actually stand in the way of consuming that content. In everything Tweakers does, it always puts its users at the center, and this does not only apply to content and design but also to advertising. We have, therefore, always believed and implemented a very conservative advertising model, contributing to an optimal user experience.

More than just LEAN

Tweakers does not serve banners that overlap content or otherwise get in the way of the user , e.g. layers, floor ads, lightboxes et cetera. Furthermore, Tweakers limits the actual amount of available space for ads and the fillrate itself is constantly monitored. The goal is not to fill each individual page with an ad. With regards to prerolls these are always skippable after 5 or 10 seconds, regardless of the duration of the video itself.

A fast and responsive site are essential for a good user experience, therefore Tweakers administers internal guidelines that guarantee a perfect experience. As such, banners are loaded a-synchronized, not polluting and delaying other site content. In addition, initial load size is limited to 50kB. For mobile, we try to limit this even further to 5kB.

In order to protect the privacy and security to the best of our abilities the complete site is available through an encrypted https-connection. An additional aid, also complementing user experience, is achieved through the limited amount of tags. On average, Tweakers only delivers three to five tags per page, against an average of fifty plus on other large media titles.  Thanks to all these changes, our advertising policy and revenue model are now not only transparent, but can be verified by the public.

If for any reason an ad is served that does not comply to our rules, users have the possibility to easily flag the ad on the site, using the forum topic about advertising. We personally reply to comments and we try to explain the policy. Most of the times we make sure the display ad is removed or altered that same day, always providing the user with feedback.

And although we have found the ad block percentage to be above average, with a tech savvy community such as ours, nonetheless over two thirds of our visitors have taken the effort to whitelist Tweakers. Enabling us to reach a consumer group that for most advertisers on other media have become unreachable. Funnily enough, this had become a sales argument. Thanks to an overall ad policy which goes beyond LEAN (Light, Encrypted, Ad choice supported, Non-invasive ads).

Beneficial for both user and advertiser

Over and over again our policy has proven successful for both advertiser and user. Where dialogue with our users has brought mutual agreement. Resulting in a site not flooded with banners, but literally leading to a concept of ‘less is more’. A site where advertising gained relevance for the user, therefore accepted and valued. Resulting in an ad viewability of over 70 percent and an average CTR of 0,60 percent per campaign.

Remaining one step ahead

The percentage of ad block users has stabilized for now, but surely this will not be the end of it. What happens when traditional online advertising no longer suffices as there is no one left to serve a banner to. As we would not like to wait for this moment to arrive we, similarly to most other media publishers, we have sought to develop new and alternative revenue models. The biggest of which has become our concept team, realising branded content, activations and events for our biggest advertisers, which is also to engage our highly committed users. In 2017, this revenue levels up to the display advertising revenue.

The course undertaken by Tweakers over the past years clearly pays off. Tweakers is now at the forefront in the Dutch media landscape, complementing both advertisers and users. Our goal is to remain one step ahead by creating and embracing new developments and opportunities, always with our users in mind.

Read more here. (In German)

Under EU rules, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate when providing an internet access service.  In their report, the regulators specifically state that this prohibition applies also to advertising.

“Hopefully the timing of the guidance, coming as it does when network-level ad blocking remains limited to isolated cases in sub-regions of the EU, will nip the problem in the bud.  Consumers have the right not to receive online advertising if they choose not to, and to compensate publishers and providers of other online services in some other way.  But the imposition of network-level blocking would have nefarious medium- to long-term consequences for European media and Europe’s digital economy.”

For more information, please contact:

Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO (feehan@iabeurope.eu)

Allan Sørensen, Policy Committee Chairman (as@danskemedier.dk)

About IAB Europe

IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the online advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector by shaping the regulatory environment, investing in research and education, and developing and facilitating the uptake of business standards. Together with its members – companies and national trade associations – IAB Europe represents over 5,500 organisations. The online advertising Industry is estimated to account for over a million jobs in Europe and contribute over EUR 100 billion to European GDP, and acts as an incubator of high-end data analytics and other digital skills that can then be deployed in the wider economy

“It is very reassuring to hear that the Danish regulator has confirmed that publishers are acting within their rights when checking to see whether users are holding up their end of the bargain when accessing advertising-funded free services," said Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe.

"European publishers overwhelmingly depend on advertising revenues to finance their online offerings, so the ability to detect ad blocking and engage with users to educate them about the value exchange is crucial. We are confident that more European countries will share the views expressed by the Dutch and Danish governments.”

“The Dutch government’s interpretation is true to the spirit of the ePrivacy Directive”, said Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, “and will ensure that Dutch publishers can continue educating users about the value of advertising. We are confident that other European countries will share the Dutch view.
 
Thanks to advertising, unprecedented amounts of free quality information and services are just a mouse click away for Internet users all over the world. IAB Europe remains committed to ensuring that the online ecosystem can continue to deliver its full potential to users, publishers, and advertisers alike.”

We believe that publishers should be allowed to ask for compensation for their work and choose the form of their business model, e.g. advertising funded, subscription based, or both. We also believe that publishers are entitled to take reasonable measures to ensure that their audiences understand the implicit deal that takes place when they view advertising funded content online. The deal being that users do not have to pay for access to content in exchange for seeing advertising. We are convinced that EU privacy rules should not be interpreted as meaning that publishers are required to ask for permission from users before ascertaining whether the latter are indeed holding up their end of the bargain in this value exchange.

Nevertheless, to attenuate the risk that a publisher could be liable for breaching even an exceedingly strict interpretation of the directive, our guidance describes how user consent for ad blocking detection can be obtained. The guidance is intended to support publishers as long as the legal situation remains unclear.

Executive Summary

• Ad blocker detection is not illegal, but might, under a strict interpretation of the ePrivacy Directive be regulated and require the informed consent of users.
• Depending on the technical implementation of ad blocker detection, such detection may be out of scope of the consent requirement of the ePrivacy Directive, or fall within an exemption to the consent requirement. But the legal situation is not very clear.
• Publishers who use ad blocker detection should update their privacy policy to include use of ad blocker detection scripts.
• Publishers who want to err on the side of caution and obtain consent for the use of ad blocker detection scripts to preempt and avoid any legal challenges could obtain consent by slightly modifying their existing compliance mechanisms for the use of cookies as the possible new consent requirement emanates from the same law.
• Publishers could use two practical solutions to request and obtain consent for the use of ad blocker detection: a consent banner or a consent wall. Publishers could also make use of a combination of the two to complement each other.