Websites that offer free resources, be it services or simply news, rely on advertising to stay alive. However a recent report from Adobe & PageFair shows that ad blocking will cost publishers nearly $22 billion throughout 2015, and $41.4 billion by 2016.
As an avid Internet user I can understand how advertisements can be annoying – and frankly there are plenty of ads out there that are just obnoxious. There are websites that throw up 4 pop-ups and 10 pop-unders when you hit their homepage – and I can completely understand blocking those ads. On the other side however are sites much like Rapid Purple – with a few select advertisements placed in non-obnoxious areas that help pay the server bill and keep the webmaster news and free webmaster resources online. Blocking these ads probably doesn’t do much for your browsing experience – but overall it’s cutting down the revenue that you’re favorite websites rely on to survive.
“It is tragic that adblock users are inadvertently inflicting multi-billion dollar losses on the very websites they most enjoy. With ad blocking going mobile, there’s an eminent threat that the business model that has supported the open web for two decades is going to collapse.”
Check out the full report below, and consider unblocking ads on your favorite websites and support their webmasters.