The state of ad blocking - September 2015
- 1. The state of ad blocking Sourcepoint & comScore – September 2015
- 2. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 2 Introduction Sourcepoint and comScore have worked togetherto research and measure the growing ad blockingtrend. This document highlights some initial findings and is focused on the incidence of ad blockingin several markets and its correlation to demographic data,top media properties and content category. It also provides an early look at mobile ad blocking,which is expected to experience significant growth in the comingmonths based on the inclusion of content blocking capabilities in iOS9 and new products beingintroducedforboth iOS and Android devices. Later this year, additional research will be published that will provide greater detail and granularity around the issue of ad blocking.
- 3. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 3 Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Unique Visitors) 1 in 10 Block Ads in the US and UK, but it’s 1 in 4 in France and Germany. The percentageof internet users with ad blocking software is higher than publishers would like across markets but the behavior has become particularly widespread in Franceand Germany, where online privacy concerns are high. 9% 10% 14% 14% 16% 24% 27% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
- 4. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 4 Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views) Ad Blockers consume more page viewsthan averageinternet users. Acrosseach of the markets studied the percentageof page views affected by ad blocking exceeded the percentageof unique visitors, indicating that those who block ads consume more internet content on average. 12% 13% 16% 16% 16% 28% 30% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
- 5. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 5 Ad Blocking Incidence: Demographic 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% Age:18-24 Age:25-34 Age:35-44 Age:45-54 Age:55-64 Age:65+ US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France Ad Blocking SkewstoMillennials. The 18-24 yearold agesegment had highest incidence of ad blocker use in every market included in this study, while 25-34 year olds also had above averageratesacrossthe board. In general, the incidence of ad blocking has an inverserelationship with age. Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
- 6. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 6 Ad Blocking Incidence: Total Internet vs. Highest Income Segment 9% 10% 16% 24% 27% 12% 12% 18% 26% 27% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% US UK Canada Germany France Average Highest Income Segment Ad Blocking Increaseswith Income.Across most of the markets analyzed, the highest income demographicsegment had a greaterpercentageof ad blockers among its ranks. The exception to this rule wasFrance, which had a consistently high incidence of ad blockers acrossincome segments. Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
- 7. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 7 Ad Blocking Incidence: Top 100 Media Properties Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only) 27 35 23 16 19 7 3 60 52 50 63 49 33 18 10 11 15 19 22 20 26 6 6 24 35 4 4 12 14 4 4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France 50%+ 40-49.9% 30-39.9% 20-29.9% 10-19.9% 0-9.9% Certain Top Media Properties Attract a High PercentageofAd Blockers. The Top 100 media properties across markets had varying degreesof ad blocking amongst their audiences.While the majority of these audiences fell into the <20% threshold, a much higher percentageof media properties came from the 30%+ buckets in Franceand Germany.
- 8. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 8 Ad Blocking Incidence: Content Category Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only) 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Bus/Finance Games Health Lifestyles News/Info Social Media Sports US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France Certain Content CategoriesareMore Exposed toAd Blocking. In many of the markets studied, the percentageof ad blockers was elevatedin certaincategoriessuch as Online Games and Social Media. In Germany, the percentage affecting the Lifestylescategorywasthe highest of any measured.
- 9. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 9Source: Sourcepoint Analytics, July 2015 Ad Blocker Market Share & Emerging Blockers Marketfor Ad Blockers is Fragmenting.New entrants like uBlock and Adguard have each grown to over 1 million daily active usersin less than a year. Eyeo’s Adblock Plus owns slightly more than half the market, although its “acceptable ads” programis driving usersto “pure” ad blocking software. 38% 51% 4% 3% 2% 1% 1% Adblock (Chrome) Adblock Plus Adblock Pro Adblock for Youtube Ublock Origin Adguard Adblocker Other 222% 833% 231% 65% 84% 0.0% 200.0% 400.0% 600.0% 800.0% uBlock uBlock Origin AdguardAdblocker Adblock Pro Adblock for Youtube Ad Blocker Market Share Growth ofEmerging AdBlockers 10 month period, November 2014– August 2015
- 10. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 10Source: Sourcepoint Analytics, July 2015 Mobile Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views) 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5% 7.9% 9.0% 0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 8.0% 9.0% 10.0% UK US Netherlands France Canada Spain Germany China India Mobile ad blocking has significant traction in India &China. Mobile ad blocking is currentlymainly availablethrough niche browsers such as UCBrowser, and Maxthon, which have built up significant user basesin Asia.The introduction of content blocking in iOS9 is expected to increasemobile ad blocking in Europe and North America.
- 11. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 11 Methodology The comScore data included in the report is derived from its opt-in panel of approximately 2 million desktop internet users from around the world. The data is collected through passive observation of a sample group. The results are then statistically weighted to provide an accurate representation of each included country’s Internet population. http://www.comscore.com/ The Sourcepoint data included in this report is based on analysis of actual ad block instances – both desktop and mobile – faced by dozens of premium publishers. In addition, Sourcepoint provided Comscore with details on how its panel could be used to detect the presence of the most popular ad blocking software. http://www.sourcepoint.com/