Ad-blocking software could cost $21.8 billion to online businesses in 2015

There’s no doubt about the fact that people are fed up with digital advertisements; and so they are increasingly using ad-blocking software in order to get rid of these ads and enjoy some privacy. However, blocking too many ads could cost lot of money to the websites users visits, if a study is to be believed. According to a new report, the loss of global revenue due to blocked advertising is expected to be $21.8 billion in 2015, which is 14% of the global ad spend. And, by 2016 the  global cost of ad blocking could reach $41.4 billion. [caption id=“attachment_515726” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Getty Images[/caption]

In the third annual ad blocking report, PageFair, with the help of Adobe, provides updated data on the scale and growth of ad blocking software usage and highlights the global and regional economic impact associated with it.

The report claimed blocking ads continues to build on the strong growth rates seen during 2013 and 2014. Globally, usage of ad blockers grew by 41 percent YoY (Q2 2014-Q2 2015). Usage of ad blockers in the US alone grew by 48 percent during the past year, increasing to 45 million average monthly active users in Q2 2015.

As of June 2015, there were 198 million monthly active users for the major browser extensions that block ads, the report added.

Ad block usage in the US resulted in an estimated $5.8 billion in blocked revenue during 2014; and is expected to cost $10.7 billion in 2015 and $20.3 billion in 2016.

With the ability to block ads becoming an option on the new iOS 9, mobile is starting to get into the ad blocking game. Currently Firefox and Chrome lead the mobile space with 93 percent share of mobile ad blocking. Ad block use on Chrome increased 51 percent yoy, reaching 126 million average monthly active users; ad block use on Firefox increased 17 percent, reaching 48 million average monthly active users; and on Safari increased 71 percent, reaching 9 million average monthly active users.

“The ease with which ad block extensions can be installed on Google Chrome, combined with the continuing shift of internet users to Chrome for browsing, are major drivers of ad block growth,” the report said.

Mobile is yet to be a factor in ad blocking growth. Although a large portion of online browsing is performed from mobile devices, mobile ad blocking is still very underdeveloped. The release of iOS 9 in the Fall of 2015 may be a game changer, as it will allow users to easily install ad blocking from the App Store. In Q2 2015, mobile accounted for 38 percent of all web browsing. Only 1.6 percent of ad block traffic on the PageFair network in Q2 2015 was from mobile devices.