The drivers and consequences of ad blocking: A self-filtering mechanism that increases ad effectiveness

Abstract: A growing group of consumers use ad-blocking software, with the result that advertisers have difficulty to reach these consumers and that publishers might lose out on ad revenue. Ways to resolve this are using ad blocker, disguising ads, or paying the ad block developer in order that the ads will not be blocked. The question is to what extent these solutions actually are effective and desired. To study this question, I have set up an experiment followed by an extensive survey. I show that, when forcing banner ads on ad block users, ad block users (relative to non-users) spend 15% less time on the webpage, they evaluate the website worse, they pay less attention to the banners, and the banners have a 62.5% lower incremental impact on unaided brand mentioning compared to when non-ad-block users are targeted. Ads are thus less effective for ad block users, even when it is possible to target them. With this, ad blocking can be seen as a self-filtering mechanism, which filters out consumers who are less responsive to advertising. Ad blockers thus help advertisers target the right consumers and increase the value of the remaining ad slots for publishers. Ad block users are next to this more likely to pay for ad-free content, offering publishers an alternative business model for these consumers.

Keywords: Ad blocking, Experiment, Unaided brand mentioning, Mouse tracking, Online advertising

Bio: Evert de Haan is since November 2019 assistant professor at the University of Groningen. Before this he was assistant professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt. He has obtained his PhD in January 2016 at the University of Groningen. Evert's research addresses topics related to digital marketing and customer relationship management. Current research projects focus on the usage of mobile devices in the online customer journey, the effectiveness of online advertising, the consequence of ad blocking, and how to use customer metrics and other marketing metrics to improve customer service and firm performance. Evert’s research has been published in peer reviewed journals such as the "Journal of Marketing" and the "International Journal of Research in Marketing".

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