Simply stated, ad blocking is technology that consumers use to prevent the download or display of advertising.
Browser extensions are the most common forms of ad blocking
- Browser extensions can:
- Block the request for an ad (no HTTP request)
- Collapse the element where the ad would display
- Ad blocking extensions exist for:
- Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera
- IE has Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) built in. Edge does not (yet)
- Most recently…
- With the iOS9 update, Safari’s Content Blocking Extensions allow for ad blocking, impacting mobile advertising
Other Techniques
- Using modified Domain Name Services (DNS) can make ad serving domains unreachable so that ads won’t appear when a consumer uses these modified DNS
- Proxy servers can modify or reject requests and responses to or from ad servers and block ads