Why is Google building a Chrome Adblocker? Are they an Orwellian organization which wants to punish you for wrong speech and searches with more control over your user habits or is it just about money.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will soon be introducing its own ad blocker for Chrome browser to enhance the mobile and desktop user web experience. Naturally, Google’s ads comply with the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA) standards and won’t be blocked.
But there are many annoying ads violating the standards that have led to the increased use of Ad Blockers especially on mobile users. The recent studies proved that 37 percent of mobile device users currently block ads. Moreover, 41 percent of the 200 million people who use Ad Blockers are aged between 19 and 29.
This poses a serious challenge for advertisers, content creators, and publishers who are now unable to reach over 80 million millennials. The lost revenue for publishers has nearly doubled every year from 2014, when it was $11.7 billion. In 2015 and 2016, the total lost revenue for publishers was $21.8 and $41.4 billion.
Considering that 70 percent of ad blockers are used on Google Chrome, and that the browser attracts a massive 60 share of the internet user market, the indiscriminatory blockage of all ads represents a major revenue cut for Google, whose profits are largely dependent on online advertising – paid search and display ads. According emarketer, in 2017 alone, Google’s earnings in ad revenues hit $72 billion.
The move by Google to introduce its own Chrome Adblocker extension targets 47.5 percent of the US browser market that uses Chrome, as well as other users across the globe. But even without the extension, Google prevented 1.7 billion ads that were violating ad policies from reaching web users, partly through the 2015 Chrome update that uses Adobe Flash to block ads.
If all goes according to plan, Google will take some of the control from consumers so they don’t block all ads, including the compliant ones. At the same time, Google’s Ad Blocker will protect Chrome Desktop users from pop-up ads, large sticky ads, autoplay ads with sound, and prestitial ads with countdown, and mobile Chrome users from pop-up ads, prestitial ads, flashing animated ads, full-screen scroll over ads, and autoplay video ads with sound.
The folks at TechWyse Internet Marketing have created a cool infographic with the stats gathered from the ad blocker industry. The stats about ad blockers in this infographic give Google reasons to worry. Have a look and share your thoughts in the comments.
Chrome Adblocker – More details below
