Ad Blocker Use Grew 41% In A Year, Mobile Revolution Still To Come

The number of people using ad blocking services is growing at a startling rate every year, according to a new report into the worldwide use of the software.

There are now over 198m monthly active users of ad blocking software, according to a report by PageFair and Adobe.

And this number has risen by a massive 41% globally over the last 12 months.

In the year leading up to June 2015, use of ad blocking software in the US grew by 48% to reach 45m monthly active users.

In the UK, ad blocking grew a huge 82% to reach 12m active users.

The report sees PageFair and Adobe look at geographic detail, providing per-country and per-state information on ad block usage rates, monthly active user counts, as well as estimates of the total cost to publishers in many regions.

They estimate that ad blocking cost businesses almost $22bn in 2015, with this expected to rise to $41.4bn in 2016.

In terms of the effect of ad blocking on different industries, dating site visitors were less likely to block advertising, seeing only a 5.2% global share of ad blocking rates.

This is compared to 26.6% for gaming and 19.1% for social networking.

PageFair said that despite mobile’s huge influence and usage rates worldwide, mobile is yet to be a factor in ad blocking growth.

The report found that while mobile accounted for 38% of all web browsing in Q2 2015, only 1.6% of ad block traffic from was mobile devices.

However this study comes just before Apple’s introduction of ad blocking software with the launch of iOS 9 in September.

The update will allow consumers to download third-party ad blocking software onto their devices for use on Safari.

Currently on Android, users can install the Adblock Plus app for use on Chrome, and the Firefox browser allows users to install ad blocking extensions.

PageFair said: “Mobile Safari represents 52% of the mobile browsing market (and 14% of total web browsing). With support for ad block apps in iOS 9, we expect ad blocking on mobile safari to trend towards the levels seen in the mobile version of Firefox.”

The PageFair report says that not only has ad blocking continued its fast growth on desktop, but has also leaped onto mobile in Asia.

Firefox and Chrome lead the mobile space, with a 93% share of mobile ad blocking.

Speaking about the findings, PageFair said: “Since our last report, the existential threat of ad blocking has become a pressing issue in the boardrooms of publishers across the world. A concerted response is required, founded upon a renewed focus on user experience, and enabled by secure ad serving technology like PageFair’s.

“We hope this report will continue to help publishers, advertisers, consumer groups and technology vendors come together to define principles that support a sustainably free and open web.”

Read the full report below, and read more here.