Fiefox Ad-Blocking Plug In Raises Questions

Per this article from the International Herald Tribune:

"Adblock Plus, an easy-to-use free addition to the Firefox Internet browser that deletes advertisements from Web sites is still a niche product for the niche browser. But it is potentially a huge development in the online world, and not because it simplifies Web sites cluttered with advertisements."

The article goes on to point out the dilemma this raises for Microsoft, which is both a major beneficiary of onlind ad revenue as well as, of course, the most widely-used browser. Microsoft has opened up IE to third-party extensions, but would be unlikely to tolerate an effective ad-blocker.

A few questions and observations of my own:

• This strikes me as unnecessary. Pop-up blockers are one thing (both Firefox and IE now have affective blockers, and pop-ups really ARE annoying), but most website ads are reasonably non-intrusive—they don't prevent a site visitor from getting the content he or she came for, they just sit off to the side to the clicked or not, based on interest.



• The first step is another technology arms race. If ad blockers become more common, advertisers will develop workarounds, which would require a new round of ad-blocking technology to address. The advertisers ultimately have more money to throw at this development.



• Be careful what you wish for. If effective ad-blocking ever does become widespread, publishers would have to find a new way to monetize their content. This could lead to greater reliance on subscription revenue. As is usually the case, the pioneers would take the arrows, but eventually most if not all publishers would have to follow suit. Everyone has to eat.

The bottom line is that ad-blocking plug-ins may be clever programming, but they are a bad idea. Looking at a few ads off to the side of content is a small inconvenience for keeping the vast majority of web-based content free.

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