New study: Is relevance the cure for ad blocking?

The issue of ad blocking has been flying a bit under the radar due to other topics taking the spotlight (did anyone mention GDPR?). Unfortunately, blocking ads did not magically become a thing of the past, while we weren’t looking. In a brand new study, we take stock of the current situation.

Mobile ad blocking on the rise

While ad blocking on the computer is more or less flat-lining, ad blocking on the mobile is rising. Especially Germany (a new addition to our insight studies) has a high level of mobile ad blocking.

Interestingly, we see that almost half of all Germans say they use ad blockers. The difference can be explained by the fact that even though you are blocking ads on one device you are not necessarily blocking them on all devices. Thus, the actual level of ad blocking is less than the recalled level of ad blocking.

Relevant ads a cure ad blocking

On the positive side, the study also finds that [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]there is a cure for reducing the use of ad blocking; namely, relevant ads.[/inlinetweet]

It is not so much about which context an ad is placed within that gives the viewer a negative brand perception. It is rather the irrelevance of the ad.

When asked if ads placed together with relevant content will improve or worsen the brand perception, there is a very high correlation to whether the user generally feels positive or negative about the ads.

The study is based on more than 16.000 individual survey respondents across seven countries; The US, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Download the full study and get further insights now: