Adblockers: friend or foe of publishers?

Online publishers have long had a testy relationship with adblocking software, disliking third party software providers software stopping readers seeing their ads and cutting their revenue. Adblockers in return have pointed the finger at publishers, stating people only use adblocking when they find ads intrusive, dull or a security threat.

But, one of the largest adblockers, AdBlock Plus, is looking to make it easier for some revenue to flow back to publishers. With its recent takeover of the micro-donation service Flattr, AdBlock is still letting users block ads from publishers, but also making it easy for small payments from users to flow to publishers in return.

If this works, it could be a win for all sides. Readers get to avoid ads they don’t like, publishers still receive money from visitors and AdBlock has a continuing business model.

That is a big if though. Although some sectors, such as the arts, have found that relying on voluntary donations can generate a good flow of income, it is a risky approach. There are likely to be big arguments ahead over who ends up with the detailed data about users, their donations and web viewing habits – all data that comes with privacy issues and commercial value.