Blocking the Ad Blockers Won't Solve the Problem, but What Will?

Finding the best way forward

An interview with:
Johnny Ryan
Chief Policy and Industry Relations Officer
Brave

A quick fix to combat ad blockers is to barricade a site from users, or force ads on them. But neither approach is effective for the long term. eMarketer's Sean Creamer spoke with Johnny Ryan, chief policy and industry relations officer at ad blocking browser Brave, about why the fight against ad blocking isn't working, and what else has to be done.

eMarketer:

Today, what are the main factors driving consumers to use ad blockers?

Johnny Ryan:

The early adopters were driven by privacy and security. As ad blocking spread to a wider audience and became more mainstream, it became about convenience.

Why is your ad blocker switched on? Because the web is better, it's faster, you don't have to wait before you watch a video and so forth. Why wouldn't you do it? Now it's so mainstream that there may be reasons beyond convenience that people force themselves to think of it, but it may not matter anymore.

eMarketer:

What's the best approach for publishers to combat ad blocking? Is it worthwhile to block ad blockers, for example?

Interview conducted on August 7, 2018

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