What’s more, 26.3 percent of internet users, which eMarketer pointed out constitutes more than one in five people in the U.S., will use an ad blocker this year.
“Ad blocking is a detriment to the entire advertising ecosystem, affecting mostly publishers, but also marketers, agencies and others whose businesses depend on ad revenue,” said eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna in the report. “The best way for the industry to tackle this problem is to deliver compelling ad experiences that consumers won’t want to block.”
The report also found that ad blocking is more widespread on desktops and laptops than on smartphones. According to eMarketer’s estimate, 90.5 percent of those who block ads will do so on desktops and laptops, while just 29.7 percent will do so on smartphones.
“Ad blocking is more common on desktops and laptops because screen sizes are large enough to accommodate multiple ads. This includes videos that might be out of view but still audible, which are especially annoying to users,” Verna said. “Also, ad blockers typically don’t work on apps, where users spend most of their mobile internet time.”
