The use of adblockers continues to grow and content providers face challenges to monetise their output

A recent survey for KPMG showed that more people than ever are using adblockers while browsing websites. From the survey of 2,702 adults in the UK, 44% responded that they will use an adblocker during the next six months.

This may not be a surprising statistic: pop-up ads are often seen as one of the internet’s great irritations.

But it does provide problems for content providers and marketers. If adverts are being blocked, advertisers will put less money into placing ads on web pages. And in a landscape where content is increasingly expected to be free, another major source of revenue for content production is lost.

Google wages war

In a bid to improve user experience and filter out lower quality content, Google has recently announced big changes to its policy on how results are displayed.

From 10 January 2017, sites with pop-up ads that block content and make it hard for the user to access will be pushed down the pecking order on any Google search results page on mobile.

But even while making this move, Google added in the caveat that if the content appeared to be particularly “great” or “relevant”, its search ranking might still be high, despite the presence of pop-ups.

This vital clause highlights the advantage that content marketers have despite facing the threat of reduced revenue as adblockers continue their rise: there remains an appetite for high quality content.

The quality gap

Some publishers, such as Forbes and the New Statesman, have begun to experiment with turning off content when adblockers are detected. But hiding your own content in this way can’t be a sustainable solution.

Paywalls or restrictions on how much content can be reached per month are also now relatively commonplace among some well-established brands. Membership is another way in which content producers are attempting to grow revenue.

But for less-established content providers, there are other alternatives.

In the same ways that advertisers aim to personalise their output, content marketers can use detailed analytics of our audience and be more creative about how to broadcast and share content. We must understand who we’re talking to and, equally importantly, who we’re failing to reach.

Social media is a vital component in this, of course, with tailored content for each platform a must. A clear understanding of the platform you’re working on will help drive readership and excitement around the content.

Aim high

American web developer and co-founder of Tumblr, Marco Arment, has described the current web climate as “a kind of war”: consumers on one side; advertisers on the other.

But this analogy fails to include the presence of content marketing. The trump card that content marketers hold over traditional marketing or advertising, for example, is a certain trust from consumers. Compared with those two industries, content marketing is looked upon far more favourably.

In many ways, this war on adverts and adblockers is a moment of opportunity for content marketing. Content can continue to fly under the radar of adblockers and the more engaging and interactive it is, the further it places itself from the kind of intrusive web ads that people are so desperate to block.

In turbulent times for the way people consume content, the best form of defence is attack. And the best way to avoid the (ad)block is to aim higher.