The creators of Adblock Plus has just claimed that their software is now being used in more than 100-million devices around the globe. Founder Till Faida told TechCrunch during a conference on Monday in New York that the company had just recently racked up more than 100-million active installations.
Adblock Plus Claims That There are Now 100-Million Active Installation for the Ad-Blocking Application
The figure that Adblock Plus released does not directly translate to the number of users, as there are individuals who use the application on more than one device. However, it does suggest that the developer is still far and away as to being the leader and it also highlights the now growing popularity for the need for an ad-blocking software.
Adblock describe the usage in countries “where ad-blocking is well known” (i.e. France and Germany) as relatively stable. However, the firm hinted that the rates of adoption were faster in the United States and in the United Kingdom. A survey made by the KPMG found out that there are 44-percent of adults within the UK that were planning on using an ad-blocker within the next six months.
While ad-blocking is seen as a convenience for many regular consumers, it is creating problems for online publishers, especially those who rely on advertising to get the word out with regards to their businesses. With the use of an ad-blocking application or a software, it means that a growing portion of a certain company’s audience won’t be able to see their advertisements. Ultimately, this spells that businesses won’t be making much money out of a portion of their marketing campaigns.
The approach for Adblock Plus towards blocking out advertisements has proven to become especially controversial as the firm responsible for the creation of the app operates an “acceptable ads” program, in which they charge larger for publishers as well as advertising companies for a fee so that they would be able to show users their ads that are deemed to be “less annoying” than others. This approach towards blocking out advertisements around the Internet was described as a “protection racket” from malvertising as stated by John Whittingdale, the United Kingdom culture secretary. It is also described as an “extortion” by Mark Thompson, the chief executive of the New York Times. Even though there are some who might disagree as to how the company and their application operates, it is still clear that many would be willing to use the software to provide a more seamless web surfing experience.