Publishers, advertisers, and consumers all have a role in the game when it comes to the use and proliferation of ad blockers. Like everyone else, I am deeply concerned about where the industry is and, more importantly, what needs to be done to reconnect with disgruntled and disaffected consumers.

The rapid adoption of ad blockers is a direct response to our industry’s persistence in using outdated and outdated advertising practices that don’t work and, in many cases, never did. The result is a collapse in the media economy. Consumers are turning off ads, reducing publisher revenue and hurting advertisers’ sales prospects. But everyone already knows.

So how did we get into this mess?

Once upon a time, people bought magazines and newspapers because they valued the editorial content they offered. The ads were part of the revenue model and were not intrusive from a reader’s perspective. Some were even funny. Just turn the page and move on.

The advent of digital publishing meant to many that the old models were unsustainable and that fueled a move towards digital advertising to fill the economic void. Unfortunately, this created a vicious cycle in which the entire advertising ecosystem shifted over time from quality goals to quantity goals, with almost everyone losing the site of the consumer experience. Volume and scalability became the buzzwords and the technology, as always, was developed to support them. Huge investments have been made in all things digital (programmatic, DSP, DMP, networks, exchanges, native and more), which with no change in product quality means the same old annoying unwanted ads. Combine that with privacy and performance concerns, and it’s clear why ad blockers are proliferating en masse. Additionally, the industry appears to be blind or unconcerned that the vast majority of fraud occurs through the use of programmatic channels. This stop-and-go approach has created a self-fulfilling prophecy that drives consumers away from wanting to see any ads at all: enter ad blocking. Today’s business drivers have focused more on short-term revenue gains; money for money, at all costs. It has become more about cost cutting rather than creativity. It has become more about data mining than consumer privacy. It’s more about volume and scale than creating great experiences and value for the consumer.

The sad truth is that many still have their heads in the sand. The implied permanent contract between the publisher and the consumer; viewing and enjoying my content in exchange for viewing my ads has been fundamentally broken, and perhaps forever. The erosion of advertising revenue is accounting for the not-so-slow death of the very economic model that was mistakenly thought to save the publishing industry. If the Internet is going to remain free, a major course correction is needed. And everyone in our industry needs to stand up and be counted, not just an enlightened few.

What to do? A two-pronged tactical initiative plus a transformational strategy

Simply put, our industry needs to get back on a path that changes consumer attitudes toward advertising; One that ends the intrusion of current and often considered questionable advertising practices in use today. Doing so will start a process that will ultimately eliminate or greatly reduce the need for consumers to rely on ad blockers in the first place. The answer lies in a radical change of attitude and action:

1. Open communication channels with current users of the ad unit

It is a fact that there has been little to no dialogue between publishers and consumers using ad blockers. As a result, publishers have no real idea why their site is crashing, how many times it happens, and what revenue losses they are incurring. And from a consumer perspective, everything ad blockers offer is a binary decision to block or not. It is an “all or nothing” proposition. Now publishers have a chance to finally put the technology to “good use.”

To directly interact with ad blocking consumers who visit your site, you need tools that identify when ad blocking occurs and which ad blocker is being used. Next, you need to provide two-way communication and dialogue with ad blocking users through rich messaging that enables publishers to start changing consumer behavior and provide readers with a wide variety of alternative options through configurable options. defined by the publisher. These tools must then expose what works and what doesn’t to optimize the consumer experience and measure the impact of publisher choices consumers are willing to make and quantify what choices consumers made, including listing conversions. white over time.

Some luckier premium publishers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, don’t have to worry about ad blockers, since you can’t get full access to their content without a paid subscription. Others, including GQ and Slate, detect ad blocking and message readers to turn off their ad blocker or pay to access content. These practices may or may not work well for them, but many other publishers don’t have that luxury. These new tools help those who aren’t so fortunate figure out what their answer to ad blocking should be. One point of caution for publishers to keep in mind is that giving zero access to content can be just as damaging as doing nothing. It can, and has been seen to increase the level of animosity against publishers and stifle the whole reason for having the site in the first place. But in the scheme of things, these tools are just tactics. They will not resolve the underlying cause and effect on their own.

2. Switch to transformational advertising

This is where all our efforts must be strategically focused. It’s clear that the same tired use of banner and display advertising is killing the industry, exacerbated by its massive programmatic proliferation. The use of ad blocking by consumers is a loud siren, if need be, that the entire ad ecosystem needs a root and branch transformation.

It’s true that ads that use high-quality video or images are viewed much more positively by consumers. But on their own, they’re not transformative, and in the end, ad blockers don’t discriminate between “good” and “bad” ads. They block everything or will block everything in their path.

Many people now praise Native Advertising as the white knight of our industry. But there is still wrong thinking here as well. Obvious shortcomings are glossed over for expediency in a hasty judgment. Today, many so-called native ads that are tailored to the look and feel of a web page and embedded in the content stream are simply banner ads in disguise. By clicking on them, consumers leave their intended experience and go to another website where they did not want or expect to be; even more outages and more of the same old annoying ad tactics that got publishers into the mess we find ourselves in today. Sure, native ads done right will be a key part of the transformation, but a lot more needs to be done first.

The cornerstones of true transformational advertising are found in 3 key principles. First, consumers must be allowed to stay within their intended digital experience. You have to bring them content and better experiences, wherever they are. Second, the full nature of the content of the ads should be reviewed. Consumers must be informed, educated and truly engaged in the experience if they want to stay. Therefore, ads must be intriguing stories, full of relevant content that they can interact with and act on in a single experience. This cannot be achieved with just text, a video, or an image. And consumers will decide if their needs are met through higher engagement and conversion rates, whatever that is. The third element, and the most crucial, is that the change must be transparent in recognizing the power of the consumer. When consumers realize and accept that their needs and interests are truly being respected, ad blocking should be a thing of the distant past.

But how do we get there? I hear you cry. The answer comes in two parts. We must use the advanced technology that we have at our disposal, but now for the greater good, to offer new and surprising consumer experiences instead of using it to damage those relationships as we do today. Solving the quality problem also opens the door to using automation and programmatic channels in a more meaningful and responsible way. But technology can only help us through the nuts and bolts of ad creativity, production, and distribution. The biggest mountain to climb is a big shift in current thinking. It has to assimilate that the use of habitual advertising models puts the survival of the industry at stake. The time for lip service to this growing crisis is over. It’s time to stop talking and start doing if we want a free internet in our future.