The impact of ad blocking set to hit $41bn
With the use the ad blocking software on the rise, it is set to cost publishers in excess of $40bn by the end of next year according to a report from Adobe and anti-ad blocking firm PageFair, with European audiences more likely to block commercial content, compared to their US counterparts.
The pair estimate that $5.8bn was in lost revenue in 2014 with the amount projected to reach $10.7bn this year and $20.3bn in 2016. Globally, this number will climb to $41.4bn by the end of next year.
The joint report, called The Cost of Ad Blocking, also found that the number of ad block users worldwide has increased by 41 per cent in the past 12 months, with the number of people using such software now at 198 million users across the globe.
In Europe, there are 77 million unique monthly users of ad blocking software - there are 12 million in the UK alone - with usage rates there outstripping the US, where they number 45 million, accoring to the study.
The numbers were calculated using PageFair's ad blocker tracking software used on over 3,000 websites, with the company estimating that up to 27 per cent of ad inventory is lost due to the use of programmes, such as Eyeo's Adblock Plus.
This trend will likely accelerate globally in September when the ability to block ads served to iPhone users - a higlighly valued demographic among advertisers - is introduced with Apple's launch of iOS 9.
PageFair chief executive and co-founder Sean Blanchfield, said: "With ad blocking going mobile, there’s an eminent threat that the business model that has supported the open web for two decades is going to collapse."