Commentary

Independent Third Party Is Needed To Track Ad Blocking Data And Patterns

by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer, April 25, 2016

GroupM took a stand in calling for “industry-wide collaboration” to address issues around ad blocking, along with ad fraud and viewability. It’s no surprise, really, as the company has been in the forefront of viewability measures.

A GroupM report out on Monday sought to gain more insight on ad blocking. It found that ad blockers were installed on an average of 22% of consumers’ devices, based on data from 19 countries.

The report notes the lack of “hard facts” on the status of ad blocking. That’s not surprising, considering that the data is constantly changing. An independent third party is needed to gather and track data on ad blocking on a monthly basis.

Because there are so many vested interests, it would be hard to find a company without an interest in the implications of ad blocking. A third party that's been approved by the right body -- BPA Worldwide or a similar not-for-profit association would be appropriate -- could establish monthly reporting on ad blocking. Regional data would be very helpful, as the situation in North America may be very different than it is throughout EMEA, APAC and Latin America. This type of data could be compiled and reported on monthly, similar to what comScore, Nielsen and others do.

Anyone interested?

ad blocking, programmatic, viewability

7 comments about "Independent Third Party Is Needed To Track Ad Blocking Data And Patterns".

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Augustine Fou from FouAnalytics, April 25, 2016 at 11:49 a.m.
Yes, I can help. Will be in touch.
Reply

Richard Murphy from BPA Worldwide, April 25, 2016 at 5:44 p.m.

BPA Worldwide is interested!

The issue of ad blocking has a far-ranging effect on the economics of the media industry. News reports over the past several months indicate the practice is becoming more widespread and it is anyone’s guess how pervasive it will become.

BPAWW is well suited to contribute to a solution for several reasons:

It is a tripartite body comprised of media owners, marketer companies and agencies representing the foundation of the media industry.

It is a not-for-profit organization which means there is no vested interest in the outcome of findings and recommendations.

It is a global body with firmly established offices in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

It has the experience and technical expertise to tackle the problem.

GroupM’s call for industry-wide collaboration to address issues around ad blocking comes at a time when thoughtful analysis and action can win the day. At BPAWW we are ready to answer that call.

Richard Murphy
Senior Vice President
BPA Worldwide

Tobi Elkin from MediaPost replied, April 26, 2016 at 1:25 p.m.

I'd like to hear from you, and also to get a dialogue going on whether industry stakeholders think this kind of service is needed.

Tobi Elkin from MediaPost replied, April 26, 2016 at 1:28 p.m.

Richard, I automatically thought of BPA Worldwide. This needs to be a rigorous process. I believe monthly data gathering, monitoring and reporting would be helpful to all stakeholders. But I'd like to hear from more people. Contact me if you have some thoughts on this.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 26, 2016 at 5:43 p.m.

Sounds like an expensive operation. I wonder who is going to foot the bill for what amounts to an ongoing and detailed but general industry-wide evaluation?While it would probably be interesting to obtain information of this kind, what do you do with it---hypothetically speaking, of course?

Tobi Elkin from MediaPost, April 28, 2016 at 10:15 a.m.

Support for an independent monitoring and tracking service needs to come from advertisers and other stakeholders. So far, no comment from the ANA. GroupM called for industry-wide collaboration and this is an initiative that might require such collaboration. A monthly tracking and accounting of ad blockers by the numbers, plus the amount of money lost are two key metrics, for starters.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 28, 2016 at 10:27 a.m.

I'm not saying that it wont happen but I tend to doubt that advertisers ---by and latrge---will jump in to fund such a program. I hope I'm wrong. Otherwise, it's probably up to the ad sellers to get the ball rolling and put up most of the funding.