Ad Blocking: Concept, Causes, Effects on Market

Thesis “Ad Blocking: Concept, Causes, Effects on Market” is dedicated to comprehensive study of Ad Blocking phenomenon. The relevance of the topic is based on annual growth of users of Ad Blocking software, as well as on an impact the software has on the online advertising market by reduction of advertising inventory on websites and, consequently, profit loss of publishers. In the theoretical part of paper current state of Ad blocking phenomenon was analyzed, as well as methods of avoiding this phenomenon by publishers and organizations. Ad Blocking was considered in terms of “Ad Avoidance” phenomenon and defined as mechanical ad avoidance. Thesis consists of theoretical part and mixed (qual  QUANT) study: the qualitative one is aimed to study the reasons why people use ad blockers and enrich with concepts the main research method of survey. The survey was conducted on Google and a total of 190 respondents was interviewed. The goal of the research was to observe the following questions: 1) Does the negative attitude towards advertising affect the desire to install software in the future? 2) Does the amount of time spent on the Internet as well as the purpose of visit affect the desire to install Ad Blockers? 3) Which method of ad avoidance prevails among Internet users? 4) Reasons for installing Ad Blockers 5) To what degree various formats of online advertising attract attention and cause irritation 6) Attitude towards paid content on the Internet. The main result of the study is forming a portrait of Ad Block software user. Also, behavioral ad avoidance was determined as the main form of ad avoidance on the internet. Likewise, a list of the most annoying formats of online ads was formed. The Thesis also contains recommendations on further areas of research on this topic.