Ad Blockers

I had a brief discussion earlier tonight about Ad Blocker software. Ad Blocker Pro is probably the most popular product on the market to block online advertisements. Most people see banner ads as a huge nuisance...however what these people don't realize is that at least some sort of website monatization is necessary to keep free content available on the Internet.

It costs money to operate a website - even this blog. Let's go with a more obvious example - http://www.espn.com/ receives thousands upon thousands of visitors daily which means it needs servers which can handle all of the traffic. It also needs to constantly update tons of information such as scores and stats - ESPN needs to pay the bills somehow. Since it is a popular site it can charge more than most sites for advertising which allows it to operate and eventually profit.

If every Internet user used an ad blocker, advertisers would instantly pull all ads since no one would be seeing them...and many sites would no longer be earning money. They could A. find another form of advertising to use or B. force visitors to pay to view content. It is fairly obvious that option B won't work for most sites - even the Wall Street Journal had to open a portion of paid services to the public due to declines in paying members.

My point? Online banners ads are necessary - with better technology these ads are becoming more targeted and relevant to viewers so there are less 'nuisance' ads. I don't think online ads are going anywhere anytime soon, but ad blocker software does pose a threat if it gains popularity.