Ad blocking to cost publishers $27bn by 2020

The report, Worldwide Digital Advertising: 2016-2020, from Juniper Research, revealed that developer activity is set to increase over the next five years, making ad blockers more sophisticated and difficult to overcome.

It claims that publishers are ‘racing to overcome the increasing challenge posed by ad blockers', and that, while it is currently limited to browsing activities, publishers are likely to face the threat of in-app ad blockers in the future. 

The threat to ad revenues has apparently intensified with Apple’s inclusion of content blocking software in iOS9. Network operator Three has also announced plans to roll out ad blocking at a network level to all of its customers. 

The report argues that Acceptable Ad Initiative (AAI) programmes such as Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page) programme, designed to increase trust in digital ads and discourage the use of ad blockers, are a positive thing, and ‘vital to both publishers in maintaining revenues, and users receiving the content they demand'.