Twitch rolls out ad blocker immune video ads
Live streaming video platform Twitch has become the latest service to roll out a more robust advertising format which it claims can override ad blocking software to make it harder for viewers to ignore ads.
Twitch claims that changes to its video ads will ‘reduce the efficacy’ of ad blockers, an indefinite choice of words which acknowledges the constantly evolving nature of this the software dance between hunter and prey.
This has seen Twitch take a leaf out of Facebook’s playbook by making adverts appear just like regular content in the back end, making it far harder for ad blocking software to accurately differentiate between the two.
To do this Twitch is taking ad delivery in-house rather than leave it to advertisers to deliver their own video streams – apparently in a bid to stem losses from those users who dodge ads, although it claims to be ‘agnostic’ about people’s use of such software.
Instead Twitch says its main motive is a desire to sell ads on its own rather than rely on third parties.