10 Top Ad Blocking Quotes From AdWeek Europe
Ad Week Europe has been buzzing this week with exciting panels and talks! One topic dominating conversation though, is ad blocking. So we’ve rounded up some of the best quotes from #AWEurope’s brightest minds.
As the world of advertising descends on London’s Picturehouse Central this week, there is plenty of opportunity for discussion and debate. And boy, that has certainly been the case.
Opinions on ad blocking are often varied– but it’s rare that we get such diversity in one place. Ad Week Europe organisers kicked the week off with a panel titled ‘Ad Blocking: A New Deal Or A Modern Day Protection Racket’ and invited Adblock Plus comms manager Ben Williams to speak – so it was always going to be heated. Let’s take a look at what the industry voices around the conference have been saying so far:
“13-15% choose the extra privacy options on Adblock Plus”
Ben Williams, Ops & Comms Manager, Ad Block Plus
“It’s like teenage acne, ugly now, but product of a growth spurt somewhere else.”
Chris Duncan, CMO, News UK
“We set up whitelisting because we felt Adblock Plus had developed in the wrong way”
Ben Williams, Ops & Comms Manager, Ad Block Plus
“One option is the programmatic and creative approach to make sure advertising online, and indeed offline advertising, is contextually relevant and creatively relevant”
Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP
“For publishers, ad blocking represents a clear lack of understanding from readers of their value exchange”
Tim Gentry, Global Revenue Director, Guardian
“People think ad blocking is a new trend- whereas going to make tea in the TV break is ad blocking”
Nigel Morris, CEO Americas and EMEA, Dentsu Aegis Network
“Ad blocking is one of the most material disruptions I’ve ever seen in the entire time I’m worked in the digital industry. We all have to respect the wake-up call it’s brought and must reinvent the way we treat our audiences.”
Tim Gentry, Global Revenue Director, Guardian
“To detect a user is using an ad blocker is a contravention of EU law. The detection of an ad blocker is technically illegal. All those websites such as The Guardian, who are posting warning messages to users, are technically illegal if they are using a script to do so.”
Alexander Hanff, Privacy Consultant, Think Privacy
“There’s no doubting that ad blocking is now a very real issue for advertisers. Next year, over a quarter of the people they’re trying to reach will be wilfully making themselves unreachable.”
Bill Fisher, Senior Analyst, eMarketer
“You can’t ad block a bus shelter”
Matthew Dearden, President, Clear Channel Europe
If you’re a publisher wanting to find out how to avoid the adblockalypse you download our guide below.
