Marketing firm Audience Project says its study of 14,000 survey respondents in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland suggests we may have reached peak ad blocking.
However, when looking at how many are using ad blockers, we also see that these numbers are decreasing. From 2016 to 2020, the share of the online population using ad blockers has decreased across all countries. Today, less than one-third in the Nordics are using ad blockers, while Germany – with close to half of the online population (48%) using ad blockers – is the country where ad blocking is most widespread. In the US and UK, 41% and 36% are using ad blockers, respectively.
In the United States, for example, Audience Project reports that its 2016 survey found 52 percent of respondents used an ad blocker, compared to 41 percent in its 2020 survey.
Oddly, the Audience Project suggests that one of the main problems is lack of ad relevance,
Ad blocking users are primarily using ad blockers to get cleaner websites, and secondly to avoid irrelevant ads. In most countries, around half of the ad blocking users turn on their ad blockers to avoid irrelevant ads, while this is the case for two-thirds among the Finns.
This is odd because generally, to get “relevant” ads, companies use privacy invading technologies to track users across the Internet, which (at least anecdotally) many users seem to find creepy and potentially exploitative as well.
Which is also why you want to block them. Yes, ads are an aesthetic distraction while browsing the web, and you won’t miss them when they are not there. But more importantly, ads are significant privacy and security threats.
We block ads at the router in my house and have uBlock Origin and similar ad blockers installed wherever possible.
Friends don’t let friends see Internet ads.