How should a publisher handle viewers with ad blocker?
Advertising is a valuable income stream for publishers. Most website users are perfectly okay to deal with a couple of ads because they understand that doing so will allow the site owner to invest his/her time and effort to maintain the site and continue creating new content and features. That said, there are some website owners who take advertising a little too far, displaying more ads than actual content. When this happens, some users will understandably decide that it’s time to install an ad blocker that cuts out all forms of advertising. This ends up hurting the other publishers who are trying to do things right. However, these publishers still have the options that can help them reach the people with ad blockers installed. Let’s take a look at a few of those:
Implement workarounds
Dealing with ads has become a game of cat and mouse played by the publishers, advertisers, website’s visitors and ad blocking software companies. There are hacks and workarounds that publishers can implement to bypass the ad blockers. However, it often ends up being a game that never ends. The ad blocker delivers software updates that cut off all known hacks, at least until new methods are discovered.
Display a notice page
As we mentioned at the start of this article, website users are generally willing to accept a couple of unobtrusive and relevant ads if they know ads help keep the site open. Not everyone is aware of the publisher’s specific situation so a short notice that lets them know just how important ad revenue is to the site’s survival can certainly help. When people see that the site they love might be in danger without enough revenue, you can bet that they will whitelist your site.
Disable ad blocker to view content
One method that is becoming very common is to make certain content exclusive, which means it will only be available to those who pay for premium content, or who do not have an ad blocker installed. The reality is that publishers devote a lot of time and effort into creating great content, and it is only fair that they be rewarded for it, either through a subscription or ad-supported business model.
Go premium
If you get tired of playing the game that come with dealing with the ad blocker issue, then the easiest thing to do is make certain portions of your site open only to paid members. People who pay will not have to deal with ads, and will get every piece of content that you make available. Those who don’t go premium will need to view the ads and get the basic services.
Do nothing but measure
If you are on the fence about what to do, or are unsure if ad blocking is even an issue for your site, then you can do nothing. However, you should consider monitoring the impact of ads blocked versus ads displayed. If you find that the blocked ads only account for a small percentage of your visitors, then you might choose to leave the blockers alone. On the other hand, if the blockers are really hurting your bottom line, you can choose to use one of the above methods.
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