Do ad blockers hurt publishers?
Yes. When visitors block ads, publishers that rely on advertising earn nothing from those page views while still paying to produce content and host traffic. The impact varies by audience, with tech-savvy and desktop readers blocking more. Publishers respond with ad-block walls, subscriptions, lighter ad experiences and programmes like Acceptable Ads that allow less intrusive ads.
Ad blocking grew as a reaction to slow, intrusive and privacy-invasive ads. The Coalition for Better Ads' Better Ads Standards define ad experiences people dislike most, such as pop-ups and autoplay video with sound; Chrome filters ads on sites that repeatedly fail them.
Acceptable Ads is a scheme under which participating ad blockers let through ads that meet size and placement criteria, with large companies paying for inclusion. Publishers also reduce blocking by limiting heavy ad refresh, sticky ads and third-party scripts.