AppNexus and Le Figaro Group have announced a partnership that lets the French publisher use the AppNexus Publisher Suite -- including its publisher ad
server, supply-side platform and Yieldex Analytics. The partnership comes on the heels of the announcement that several French publishers,
including Le Figaro Group's national newspaper Le Figaro, are taking measures to deal with ad blocking. The image on the left, courtesy of Adblock Plus forum user Morbius, shows blurred-out text and a message when the user visits Le Figaro
with Adblock Plus turned on.
"Display problems on our site?" the message reads, adding, "It's probably your ad blocker. Disable it to continue reading."
Le
Figaro has a print circulation of more than 300,000, and it reaches 18.6 million people via its print and digital editions, according to the company. Other titles from the Le Figaro
Group include Figaro Magazine, Madame Figaro, TV Magazine and Evene.
Brian O'Kelley, CEO of AppNexus, said anyone who cares about the future of independent publishing "should be
rooting for companies like Le Figaro," an example of "how independent publishers can apply a sophisticated, data-driven strategy to survive and flourish in the digital age."
The
Interactive Advertising Bureau of France (IAB France) released a study earlier this month showing that in France, 30% of surveyed Internet users use ad blockers, with 55% of people aware that
blockers exist, Real-Time Daily reported.