Advertising Digital Publishing
2 mins read

Majority of Adblock users pay for digital content, and would pay publishers for an ad-free experience

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One of the more interesting traits regarding adblock users is the fact that a majority of them pay for some form of online digital content. Whether it’s a streaming video service such as Netflix, or subscribing to their favorite news website, a large amount of adblock users support their favorite content through monetization.

Chart - Adblockers Pay for Online Subscriptions

This debunks the notion that adblock users’ goals are to simply have a free online experience and gives light to their true objectives. Online users install adblockers for many different reasons.

A majority even report they weren’t aware it was turned on, or they did not install or enabled it themselves. In a majority of cases, we find that adblock users are unaware of the risks they pose to free content providers, and many show a willingness to pay for an ad-free experience to their favorite websites.

Adblocker Survey Chart - Most popular content subscription model

Publishers should recognize that many adblockers value good content and are open to a variety of engagement options. Nearly a quarter of adblockers surveyed were open to a 6-12 month ad-free digital content subscription if given a discount.

visitor relationship platform can help publishers quickly test offers, pricing, and subscription time frames. Turning adblock users into subscribers would not only increase revenues in the short term but deepen relationships with these highly engaged visitors.

This is also supported by previous research on adblock users:

Adblock users are open to new value exchanges – including paying for monthly ad-free subscriptions to support the sites they visit

The relationship between users and websites has become increasingly difficult to forge with the exponential rise of adblocking. With nearly one-third of internet users in the U.S. employing an adblocker, publishers who rely on advertising revenue to operate have found it increasingly challenging to continue delivering free content.

Many of theses publishers are turning to various solutions tackling this issue of monetization with the hopes that users will remain inclined to continue supporting them.

The Problem

The biggest problem adblockers cause for publishers is the complete removal of advertising revenue. While this is obvious to site owners, many users are unaware how their adblocking software is slowly crippling these websites. Through a recent survey, however, we find that the majority (76%) of adblock users agree that publishers have the right to earn revenue to support the content they publish.

As a follow-up question, we then asked if adblock users were willing to offer alternative value in exchange for an ad-free experience from the sites they regularly visit.

It’s clear adblock users are willing to support their favorite websites, and many will whitelist when asked, however some users would rather demonstrate their support through alternative means. Publishers need to engage these users to determine a new value exchange beyond advertising that fits within their KPIs.

This new method of creating a relationship with the user while simultaneously providing something useful to the content owner is what many speculate to be the future of consumer interaction on the internet, and this gives publishers a diverse range of options when it comes to expanding their business.

Michael Yeon, VP Marketing, Admiral

By Admiral
Admiral helps digital publishers grow visitor relationships via adblock recovery, per-site subscriptions, multi-site subscriptions, email subscriptions, social subscriptions, privacy consent and more, powered by Admiral’s one-tag, one-vendor, one visitor experience Visitor Relationship Management (VRM) platform.