Ad blocking heading toward mainstream in UK

While ad blocking software was once only downloaded by more tech-savvy, early adopters – in 2014 it was used by 10% of internet users – it is increasingly moving into the mainstream. In 2016, 20.5% of the internet population used software to stop digital ads and by 2017 this will rise to 27% or 14.7 million people.

eMarketer estimates that of the 10.9m people who block ads, the majority ( 90.2%) do so on a desktop or laptop PC. About 28% block ads on smartphones – there is overlap because some users block ads on multiple devices.

eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher said: “There’s no doubting that ad blocking is now a very real issue for advertisers. Next year, over a quarter of the people they're trying to reach will be wilfully making themselves unreachable.

“The good news is that numbers like this have forced those within the industry to think long and hard about what it is that they need to do better, in order that this practice doesn't become an epidemic.”