Huge rise in mobile take-up fuels ad-blocking fears

The Internet Advertising Bureau’s claim that there is no “adblockalypse” has been blown out of the water following the release of figures which show at least 70% of users are either blocking ads already or are interested in doing so across all devices.
According to new data from GlobalWebIndex, the final quarter of 2015 witnessed a huge surge in mobile ad blocking – so far the one area of digital marketing which has escaped virtually unscathed.
Between October and December 2015, 36.7% of mobile users said they had blocked ads. The rise has been sharpest within younger age groups, with over 40% of mobile users aged 16-34 saying they had blocked ads, compared with 20% of those aged 55 to 64.
Meanwile, use of ad-blocking software on desktop devices also rose sharply, between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015, up by more than 10% from 27.5% to 38.3%.
GlobalWebIndex director of research and insight Jason Mander suggested the “almost-constant media coverage” had encouraged many people to sign up, while the proliferation of free and easily-available tools was also a factor.
He added: “The arrival of ad-blocking on mobile has also been encouraging people to adopt this approach across all of their devices. Arguably the most striking aspect of this data is the huge potential for ad-blocking to continue growing.
“Across every single age and gender break, it’s at least 70% who say they’re either blocking ads already or are interested in doing so in the future.”
The IAB’s Ad Blocking Report, released in November last year, showed that just 18% of people were using the software – up from 15% in June – with 71% doing so on laptops, and 47% on desktop PCs. Just under a quarter (23%) were blocking ads on mobiles, less than one in five (19%) on tablets.

TOPICS:ad-blocking IAB mobile marketing