The state of ad blocking
Introduction
Sourcepoint and comScore have worked together to research and measure the growing
ad blocking trend. This document highlights some initial findings and is focused on the
incidence of ad blocking in several markets and its correlation to demographic data, top
media properties and content category.
It also provides an early look at mobile ad blocking, which is expected to experience
significant growth in the coming months based on the inclusion of content blocking
capabilities in iOS9 and new products being introduced for both iOS and Android devices.
Later this year, additional research will be published that will provide greater detail and
granularity around the issue of ad blocking.
Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Unique Visitors)
1 in 10 Block Ads in the US and UK, but it’s 1 in 4 in France and Germany.
The percentage of internet users with ad blocking software is higher than publishers would like across
markets but the
behavior has become particularly widespread in France and Germany, where online privacy concerns are high.
9% 10% 14% 14% 16% 24% 27% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%
Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views)
Ad Blockers consume more page views than average internet users.
Across each of the markets studied the percentage of page views affected by ad blocking exceeded the percentage of unique visitors, indicating that those who block ads consume more internet content on average. 12% 13% 16% 16% 16% 28% 30% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%
Ad Blocking Incidence: Demographic
0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%Age: 18-24 Age: 25-34 Age: 35-44 Age: 45-54 Age: 55-64 Age: 65+
US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
Ad Blocking Skews to Millennials. The 18-24 year old age segment had highest incidence of ad blocker use in every
market included in this study, while 25-34 year olds also had above average rates across the board. In general, the incidence of ad blocking has an inverse relationship with age.
Ad Blocking Incidence: Total Internet vs. Highest Income Segment
9% 10% 16% 24% 27% 12% 12% 18% 26% 27% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%US UK Canada Germany France
Average Highest Income Segment
Ad Blocking Increases with Income. Across most of the markets analyzed, the highest income demographic segment
had a greater percentage of ad blockers among its ranks. The exception to this rule was France, which had a consistently high incidence of ad blockers across income segments.
Ad Blocking Incidence: Top 100 Media Properties
27 35 23 16 19 7 3 60 52 50 63 49 33 18 10 11 15 19 22 20 26 6 6 24 35 4 4 12 14 4 4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
50%+ 40-49.9% 30-39.9% 20-29.9% 10-19.9% 0-9.9%
Certain Top Media Properties Attract a High Percentage of Ad Blockers. The Top 100
media properties across markets had varying degrees of ad blocking amongst their
audiences. While the majority of these
audiences fell into the <20% threshold, a much higher percentage of media properties came from the 30%+ buckets in France and Germany.
Ad Blocking Incidence: Content Category
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%Bus/Finance Games Health Lifestyles News/Info Social Media Sports
US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
Certain Content Categories are More Exposed to Ad Blocking. In many of the markets studied, the percentage of ad
blockers was elevated in certain categories such as Online Games and Social Media. In Germany, the percentage affecting the Lifestyles category was the highest of any measured.
Ad Blocker Market Share & Emerging Blockers
Market for Ad Blockers is Fragmenting. New entrants like uBlock and Adguard have each grown to over 1 million daily
active users in less than a year. Eyeo’s Adblock Plus owns slightly more than half the market, although its “acceptable ads” program is driving users to “pure” ad blocking software.
38% 51% 4%3% 2% 1%1% Adblock (Chrome) Adblock Plus Adblock Pro
Adblock for Youtube Ublock Origin Adguard Adblocker Other 222% 833% 231% 65% 84% 0.0% 200.0% 400.0% 600.0% 800.0% uBlock uBlock Origin Adguard Adblocker Adblock Pro Adblock for Youtube
Ad Blocker Market Share
Growth of Emerging Ad Blockers
Mobile Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views)
0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5% 7.9% 9.0% 0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 8.0% 9.0% 10.0%UK US Netherlands France Canada Spain Germany China India
Mobile ad blocking has significant traction in India & China. Mobile ad blocking is currently mainly available through
niche browsers such as UCBrowser, and Maxthon, which have built up significant user bases in Asia. The introduction of content blocking in iOS9 is expected to increase mobile ad blocking in Europe and North America.
Methodology
The comScore data included in the report is derived from its opt-in panel of approximately 2 million
desktop internet users from around the world. The data is collected through passive observation of a sample group. The results are then statistically weighted to provide an accurate representation of each included country’s Internet population.
http://www.comscore.com/
The Sourcepoint data included in this report is based on analysis of actual ad block instances – both
desktop and mobile – faced by dozens of premium publishers. In addition, Sourcepoint provided
Comscore with details on how its panel could be used to detect the presence of the most popular ad blocking software.
