Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Taboola have been paying the German owners of AdBlock Plus to make sure that their adverts sneak through the advert blocker’s algorithms. The confidential deal between the companies and AdBlock owners Eyeo was uncovered by the Financial Times.
AdBlock Plus, the popular Chrome and Firefox extension, has been downloaded more than 300 million times, and has over 50 million monthly users.
However, many companies that rely on advertising revenue are frightened that advert blocking software will cripple their business. German media groups RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 are suing Eyeo for loss of earnings, with French publishers also considering action.
A Microsoft spokesperson said, “Microsoft will always give consumers choice when it comes to advertisements. We are committed to working with partners who share our vision for relevant, impactful brand interaction and respect the integrity of consumer choice.”
Amazon and Google have declined to comment.
Source: Financial Times
µBlock is better
Why is this not surprising… Shame on the AdBlock developer rather than the Google etc.
Or get the original adblock which is funded by donations…
Adverts? What adverts? -uBlock
So long as youtube ads don’t get through, I don’t really mind.
Google, MS and amazon aren’t quite that intrusive.
who the f**k are they to say we should see crap we dont want to see? Why offer a service then charge to skate round it and bypass what its there for in the first place, counter productive and I see this ublock people are mentioning, well they will lose people to ublock if they offer a service where they cant be easily bought and allow people to have the choice to block all that spammy s**t off of our screens
I can deal with the old school banner ads… but the pop-ups, automatic playing videos, and commercials before videos have to go! Advertising is just too pushy! I have no interest in something that annoys me. I will use ABP until that is understood, otherwise I am enjoying my ad-free web browsing! 😉
i dont want to see ANY of their adverts whilst im surfing the net on a system ive had to pay for .. thats a personal choice..