Why adblockers might be a good thing for publishers

There’s been a good deal of apocalyptic stuff written about adblockers, with even the UK’s minister of culture sticking his oddly-misinformed oar in to describe them as a ‘modern-day protection racket’. I’ve been thinking about my own response to them — and most particularly my response to how publishers are talking to me about them- and it’s made me wonder if they aren’t perhaps a positive thing for publishers in the long run.

There are two reasons why adblockers might be a positive. First, this kind of threat to the bottom line tends to focus minds. The surge in use of adblockers has caused many publishers to ask themselves the hard questions which, to be honest, a good many of them had been shirking while ad revenues were on the up. These discussions go beyond ‘free-or-pay’ and into a more fluid world (filed under the godawful neologism ‘freemium’) of subscription apps and ad-supported websites and porous paywals. The growing sophistication of this model seems to me to be in part a response to adblockers — or rather to what adblockers represent, which is the shaky sands on which online advertising is built (not to mention the dodgy numbers).

Another aspect to this focussing of minds is the speed with which the bigger publishers have built messaging in to their sites to respond to adblockers. It’s rare to visit a mainstream media site supported by advertising which doesn’t nag you if you’ve got an adblocker turned on. Which suggests to me that management got itself prioritised with regards to technical resource, and fast.

Which points to the second positive for publishers — the new opportunity to communicate their value to their readers. My experience has been that an adblock message saying ‘turn it off or clear out’ has caused me to ponder how useful a site is to me. In some cases (I’m looking at you, telegraph.co.uk) it’s led to a shrug and a click away. In others, I’ve gone yes, OK, I get it, and I’ll turn the adblocker off. Of course, it helps when I’m spoken to like an adult, but when a publisher takes the opportunity to lay out its business case — its reason for existing, in essence- my relationship with that publisher is developed and deepened.

In other words, adblockers give publishers something they’re always seeking in other channels — an opportunity to talk to their readers. Some will vote with their mouse buttons, but others will stay, and perhaps even take up the offer of an alternative to advertising.

It doesn’t always work, and there’s more to be done — for instance, it’s constantly galling that the Guardian’s website doesn’t seem to recognise I’m a paying subscriber on two other platforms when ticking me off about adblocking. But that’s another story, and these quick thoughts have already taken up too much space.