The recent court-cases between German newspapers and Adblock over the legality of controversial advert-blocking software has raised many questions about the future of marketing online. The fact that news sources were the first to start suing suggests that they may be the most worried. The Guardian columnist, Peter Preston, is even arguing that the loss in revenue from adverts will lead to the death of online news. However, these developments don’t just affect journalists; they affect everybody.
Marketers, consumers, and online businesses should all be concerned about the future of online adverts. Many websites are only free because of them. Without the adverts, websites need to find new ways to make money. The Times Online, for example, charges people to read articles online and thereby bypasses the need for advertisements altogether. However, most other websites’ revenue stream is built on the idea of advertising. What can these other websites do?
They could sell your personal data. Facebook have certainly been accused of doing this, but they deny this charge. Still, if social media makes the bulk of its money through advertising, then Adblock would affect them too. They could start charging for their services, although some sites, such as Facebook, claim that they will never do that. Facebook, as well as every other website that relies on internet marketing, are probably just hoping that Adblock will go away.
From a user perspective, this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. Users may be aware of the damage they are doing to the websites they love by not allowing them to make money, but that didn’t stop usage of the app jumping from 86 million in 2013 to 144 million in 2014. What is more, user rating of the app remains a strong 4.5 stars out of 5. Clearly then, consumers are happy to use Adblock despite the problems it may cause.
From a marketing perspective, Adblock’s increased popularity will definitely mean change, but it is hard to say what this change will be and whether it will be good or bad. According to spokesperson Ben Williams, the aim of the software is not to get rid of adverts, but to make them better and less intrusive by offering to “whitelist” companies who create adverts that meet their standards. These whitelisted companies will be able to advertise to users even if they have the Adblock app. Adblock see themselves as a user-appointed censorship board for advertising, whereas critics simply see them as Napster for a new generation.
A comparison to Napster suggests other potential outcomes. Piracy may have led to a huge decrease in music sales but, as the recent success of Glastonbury Festival demonstrates, more people are willing to pay more than ever to watch music live. Similarly, it is has been reported that consumers may be moving away from online shops and heading back to the high-street. A trend is emerging: live music and live shopping. If this trend catches on, then advertising will certainly accompany them in future.
Whatever the future of advertising is, it needs to be something that consumers do not disagree with. Adblock shows the power of consumer angst against certain styles of advertising. Going forward, everybody in the marketing industry needs to be aware that their audience’s power over them is stronger than ever.
By Phillip Burton, Founder of Filecats.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus