Gruner+Jahr Digital’s Oliver von Wersch, on the latest approaches to ad blocking

One of the most important and influential presentations at the DIS in 2016 came from Oliver von Wersch, the Managing Director, Growth Projects & Strategic Partnerships at Gruner+Jahr Digital.

German publishers have been at the forefront of the battle against ad blocking, possibly due to the fact that the leading adblocker Eyeo, which boasts Adblock Plus as its flagship product, is based in Cologne.

Several media companies have taken Eyeo on in the courts, while others have been advocating a wider set of solutions.

Von Wersch was especially forthright about Eyeo at the DIS in March. He began by saying he works from the premise that “high quality journalism costs money and it needs to be paid for either by advertiser or the user."

“Ad blocking disrupts this business model,” argued von Wersch. “In our B2B communications we highlight that ad blockers are doormen of clubs they don’t own.”

He then went on to talk about Eyeo, owners of Adblock Plus, and their business model. “They are not about making ads better, but getting money from publishers. They already deal with large companies who pay them to whitelist ads through. Things that are potentially illegal have to be addressed as illegal and this has coloured G+J’s approach.”

Von Wersch then explained that G+J was testing different ways of responding. These include user communication - in other words using popups which message the user and explains how to switch off Adblock Plus. Some sites let the reader on to the sites, while others barred them unless they switched the ad blocker off. Limited access, including daily or weekly passes or technical circumvention the recovery of ads.

Von Wersch concluded his presentation by saying that “publishers need to try as much as they can to get back the dialogue and see what the reaction of the users are.”

The moves have been successful. Typically the strategy has reduced ad blocking rates - usually between 20-40 per cent depending on site. 

In the space of five months though ad blocking has moved on. Here von Wersch talks about Facebook’s recent move to counter ad blocking, how an industry-wide approach might be difficult and if whether native advertising is a realistic solution.

How much growth do you think there will be in ad blocker adoption in Europe this year?

According to measurements of the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) and its Online-Vermarkterkreis (OVK – Circle of Online Marketers), the ad block rates on premium websites are no longer growing, they are instead slightly decreasing.

What do you see as the main reason why people employ ad blockers?

Digital advertising is not transparent enough. For example, users are annoyed by tracking, targeting and retargeting. They do not understand why they still see ads of e.g. shoes they already bought weeks ago. Furthermore, ad formats are often too intrusive – at least, that is what users share with us. 

Do you think that with the shift to native advertising (a recent report says it will account for 74% of media revenue by 2021) the industry is finally addressing the issue?

In principle, all digital advertising formats could be blocked through ad blocking software. And as digital is defined by a constant development – which means that also ad blockers are innovating – I am not sure if native ads will end the issue. I believe that digital advertising has to challenge itself constantly. 

In your position as being responsible for Growth Projects & Strategic Partnerships, do you talk to other key publishers about ad effectiveness. Is a unified approach possible?

I do indeed talk to other publishers regularly – locally, nationally, and globally. However, a unified approach is not going to be an easy achievement, but the common understanding of the problem grows constantly.

Should publishers ever pay money to ad blocking companies to be put on white lists?

Definitely not. Never! According to German legislation, whitelisting is illegal. And I believe this judgement will soon be adopted globally.

Were you surprised by Facebook's move to counter ad blocking software on desktop? Do you think it will repeat the move on mobile audiences next?

We appreciate that players such as Facebook have joined the movement of companies taking measures against ad blocking. I would expect that Facebook – as many other companies – have a more severe problem with ad blocking on the desktop side, and therefore will first test out the effectiveness of their approach there, and then roll it out to mobile later.

So much of the ad effectiveness debate has focused on mobile, but are there things that publishers can do to make their desktop ads more effective?

Listen closely to your users’ feedback – they are the ones who decide about our success. 

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