Media Houses Are Blocking AdBlockers - And You Should Be Worried Media outlets have launched a worldwide campaign to encourage readers to uninstall ad-blocking software
By Rustam Singh
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AdBlockers – the solution and savior of millions of internet users worldwide. They clean up the World Wide Web with cleaner webpages, without popups. AdBlockers also speed up web browsing by blocking these high resolution images, Java, flash images, and other distractions. Now imagine a web browsing experience where you would click a link, which leads to exactly what you clicked for. No more annoying lottery winnings, or screensavers or glittery emoticons – just the content you wanted. Sounds dream like right? All this, without a fee or nagging for subscription fees. That's what AdBlockers do.
AdBlockers Hurt businesses
However, AdBlockers hurt grievously those organizations that are running their businesses funded through the revenue earned form ads, which are literally all of them. Most media establishments, especially those that repackage content and present it again have an ad based revenue model. Ads pay for these media establishments that give content away for free. The content you view and observe for free is solely funded by advertisements which if the user blocks, means there's no source of revenue earned to the organization. This could mean pay cuts for journalists that are striving to provide high quality content for readers and nations to view.
Why Indians Need AdBlockers
So where does the average consumer stand? In India with ridiculously slow worldwide internet speeds, even single KB saved form being downloaded adds up significantly in annoyance and sped. This is especially valid in mobile devices where the user pays for each MB. A monthly saving of a few dozen MBs could make tangible money savings.
Legal Standpoint
AdBlocking is legally speaking, completely legal. All operating systems allow provisions to block ads system wide, using hosts file which translates the DNS cache to return back to the user (showing a blank page) instead of an ad page. This saves your internet from downloading specifically the ad file. Browser extensions like AdBlocker will do the dirty job for you, and check for updates automatically. These are all completely legal.
Media fights back
On the downside, intelligently designed websites can detect AdBlockers and are now issuing statements that users cannot browse through the website blocking ads, or making the user morally conscious by stating how we are hurting their business.
This raises a serious debate over whether we want a newer model for web communications where content is not only available for free but also without annoying ads. Perhaps sponsored content is the new way to go.
What do you think of ad blocking? Do you use one or do you hate one? Let us know in the comments on our official Facebook page Entrepreneur India.
