YOUR AD BLOCKING DAYS ARE OVER!!!
Advertisers and publishers over the past few years have become increasingly concerned about the impact of ad blocking software that can reduce the effect of their ad campaigns and cost them a lot of money. Based on who you ask, analysts estimate that ad blocking software cost publishers about $22 million dollars in 2015, and caused a total loss of about $21 billion dollars to the advertising industry in the same year. Those are some big numbers ?? but the worst is yet to come. The scariest thing to note for both advertisers and publishers is the rapid expansion of people using ad blocking technology. Between June 2014 and June 2015, use of ad blocking increased by 48% in the United States and a whopping 82% in the United Kingdom.
Many publishers have proposed unique solutions to solve this issue of lost revenue due to ad blocking. One solution that has been taken up by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft is to
pay the ad blockers to not block ads on your site. However, some analysts agree that this solution doesn??t seem long term, and only works for larger businesses who have the capital to simply throw money at a problem to make it go away. In addition, it feels a little fishy. Ad blockers can charge these businesses whatever they want, and there are no regulations in place to keep them from turning around and getting customers to pay them even more to block ads on these sites.
Other solutions that might more accessible to small and medium businesses include not allowing those using ad blockers to see your content, which does seem rather harsh. However, it is being
tested by Forbes. Those who do agree to turn off their ad blockers are treated to an ??ad lite? version of the site for 30 days.
Many news sites have decided to go with the freemium model to recoup income lost from ad blockers. This typically means that users can view a certain number of articles for free before they must subscribe. Similarly, other news sites simply have a paywall, getting income from each and every reader.
Some online publications have even resorted to attempting to playing on the heartstrings of their viewers, by posting how ad blockers affect their business whenever they encounter a user who is blocking ads, asking them to unblock ads or pay a fee. Those who have tried this report there is less than a 1% conversion rate, meaning that it is not at all effective.
So far, the solution that seems to be the most effective is to create native ads that appear to be regular content, but are really an advertisement for products or services. These have appeared on popular sites like Buzzfeed in the form of sponsored listicles and other charming content. The challenge with native advertising is finding the balance of making it feel like authentic content but also being clear about what you are advertising. In addition there are some who feel that ??advertorials? as native ads are sometimes called are made with shady journalism ethics. However, this solution works well because native advertising usually can??t be distinguished from the site??s actual content, so it can??t be blocked.
Clearly none of these solutions are ideal. At best they are an attempt to catch sand in a sieve, at worst they are frustrating to users and can affect how your site??s visitors view your business. However, there is a new technology on the market called KWAIK, which reportedly works by bypassing ad blocking software and displaying its own advertisements instead. Publishers using this technology can use ads provided by KWAIK or their own marketing creatives.
??More than 24% of traffic around the world is adblocked. This is because ad blocking is a technology that is easily adaptable, and is used especially frequently by the millennial generation, who adopt ad blocking at a rate of 50%. This is unfortunate because they are often the target of advertisers,? explains company CEO Joey Gabra. ??We want to offer businesses a solution to recoup some of the income that has been lost to this disruptive technology.?
The most revolutionary thing about this service is that it will not cost publishers a dime. The technology is free and there is no setup fee or subscription. KWAIK simply earns a portion of the revenue that was saved by getting rid of the ad block. It works on all browsers, including mobile and tablet browsers which is incredibly relevant because in September of 2015, Apple started allowing ad blocking apps in their app store, which had been previously forbidden. Since then, even mobile ad blocking has become a growing problem for publishers and advertisers.
??As more and more people learn to block ads on mobile, tablets and computers, using
KWAIK will be a good move for pretty much any business.? Explained Mr. Gabra. ??By using
KWAIK, publishers will be able to recover ad inventory, agencies and ad networks will be able to raise their inventories and advertisers will get to reach more consumers.?
It seems like
KWAIK is the solution that businesses have been searching for as they struggle to stay ahead of the revenue lost from ad blockers. Will you try it?
If you want to learn more about KWAIK, you can visit KWAIK.biz or email [email protected]