British advertisers address ad blocking

The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has led the way in ad blocking talks in the United Kingdom with their Ad Blocking event last October. It was one of the first events to focus exclusively on ad blocking and involved advertisers, publishers, broadcasters and ad blocking software providers.

The event highlighted the concerns advertisers and publishers face from the increase in usage of ad blocking software, as well as the options available to them.

ISBA has recommended that its members, some of whom were unaware of the ad blocking threat until recently, ask their media agencies what reassurances they can give to mitigate the problem of ad blocking on their marketing communications.

It was acknowledged during the event that although publishers and advertisers are the key components in the value chain, consumers must be listened to. It was generally agreed that ad blocking is everyone's problem. Ad blocking is consumer led and they are blocking ads for a number of reasons.

Publishers also acknowledged that although ad blocking presents a short term challenge, it provides a long term opportunity.

During the event, Bob Wootton, ISBA's Director of Media and Advertising said, "It is important to acknowledge that there is no silver bullet to ad blocking. The 'old compact' between advertiser and user revolved around the implicit understanding that most of the media and content wouldn't exist without the subsidy from the ads, so they were uninvited but fortunately relatively benign guests, and therefore tolerated. 'The times they are a changing' and we are now in a situation where ads are not tolerated. We must go back to the equilibrium where ads are tolerated again. If this is not tackled and resolved soon we will all lose out and the internet will be a lot poorer experience."

For more information, contact ISBA.

Further reading: WFA's view on ad blocking