Advertising Digital Innovation
1 min read

Ad blocking goes mobile: 5 charts on the global state of ad blocking

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Ad blocking has been a growing headache for publishers, and recent reports indicate that its reach will only increase around the world.

Although the growth of ad blocking overall in the U.S. is expected to slow down, researchers predict that ad blocking on mobile devices will continue to rise, particularly in Asia. Surveys also show that people in different countries tend to gravitate toward particular devices when they block ads, and ad blocking is pretty spread out across demographics. As Altimeter Group analyst Omar Akhtar put it, “Millennials are annoyed [by ads] and older users are creeped out by the specificity.”

Ad blocking by demographics
Most people who know about ad blocking use it. And that type of technical awareness tends to be more common in young people. However, that doesn’t mean ad blocking is more heavily concentrated among the young.

Reports from PageFair and Trendera both found that ad blocking is pretty evenly practiced across gender and age cohorts. As Forrester analyst Susan Bidel wrote, “If you think that users of ad blockers are geeky teenage gamers, you’re wrong.”

Mobile on the rise
The rise of international ad blocking has coincided with a rise in mobile ad blocking. Sixty percent of ad blocking (308 million devices) occurs on mobile now. It is projected that mobile ad blocking will continue to make up a larger chunk of the overall ad block pie. According to Akhtar, mobile ads are more likely to prompt poor user experiences, which gives users more incentive to block them.

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