Many people use adblockers as they find ads just annoying, they don't want to be disturbed while surfing online, or are afraid of infecting their computer with malware through ads. Thus, the advertising industry must look for alternative business models.

However, adblock users are very attractive to advertisers: they are educated, young, well paid, and most importantly, they buy online almost twice as often after seeing an ad, according to the official 2018 Ad Blocking Report by eyeo GmbH.

Adblockers seem to have given back some freedom to the user, because now a whole new ecosystem of content monetization models have been developed. Users will increasingly be able to decide for themselves whether, for example, they want to watch content for free and consume advertising for it, or whether they want to pay for ad-free content instead.

Although some advertisers might think that this group is out of their reach, that’s not really the case. Only a small proportion of adblock users reject all ads, and therefore see no ads at all; the remaining 83% are willing to see some form of ads, which supports content creators who respect their usage habits, according to Hubspot. But what can respectful and acceptable advertising look like?

To reach today's adblock users sustainably, note the following:

1. Accept the user's right to self-determination.
2. Ads should be respectful and add value.
3. Transparency: Advertising must be clearly identified.
4. Ads should not appear in the body of a website.
5. Ads occupy a maximum of 25 percent of the screen.

...in practice, this means two simple rules for advertisers:

1. Use networks certified for Acceptable Ads, for example Bing, Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Ads, Criteo, etc.
2. Always ensure that non-animated ads are also available in standard formats for each campaign, as this is the only way ads can be delivered to ad blocker users.

According to eyeo's report, 38% of users say that intrusive ads negatively impact their opinion of the brand being advertised, as well as the site that served the ad. Hence, publishers and advertisers harm themselves by forcing ads on users. The trick is to pick up customers where they are and show them the advertising that offers them added value and meets their needs. This also means respecting the user's right to choose which ads to see. In other words, the user has given a clear vote and is asking for alternatives. It's up to us to develop new business models together that are viable for content creators while respecting the rights of users.

By Daniela La Marca