Apple serves up ad-blocking software to serve itself
It took just one day following the release of Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS9, for ad-blocking applications to join the most popular downloads in the tech giant’s app store.
While consumers might like the ability to block ads, which are increasingly clogging up the web, publishers are worried that introducing ad-blocking capability on mobile could fundamentally change their fortunes.
“This has the potential to change the entire economy of how the internet functions, and how publishers will continue to function in the future,” says Rebecca Lieb, independent mobile industry analyst.
Lieb says publishers, like news sites, might rely more on paid subscriptions, and advertisers might head to social media like Facebook and Twitter, where ads can’t be blocked.
Or, if Apple has its way, they will come to its new News app, where media companies can host their own ads or let Apple sell them and take a 30 percent cut. Ad-blocking tech won’t work on the app.
That hope is the app will pull business from Google, which dominates the $120 billion online ad market.
But says Carlos Kirjner of Bernstein Research, Google is unlikely to feel any real pinch from Apple anytime soon.
“It’s crucial to understand that the vast majority of Google’s revenues are generated by Google sites,” and by search advertising, says Kirjner.
Search ads aren’t impacted by ad-blocking.
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