A new report from Tune is shedding light on the current state of ad blockers, revealing that 25 percent of mobile users in the US and UK have installed an app or browser that can block ads.
In fact, the Mobile Ad Blocking 2016 report shows that ad blocking app downloads are growing fast, with the growth rate of ad blocking mobile users more than tripling in the last three months. For instance, 2.4 percent of respondents said they installed an ad blocking app or browser in the previous 4 - 6 months, but 7.8 percent said they had done so very recently, either in November or December 2015, or January 2016.
The data also sheds light on who is installing ad blockers, revealing that although there aren't many defining demographic characteristics, young and middle-aged adults tend to leverage ad blockers at a slightly higher rate than teens and older adults. Additional data shows that men block ads a bit more than women (28.6 percent vs. 22 percent), as do Android users when compared to iOS (27 percent vs. 22 percent).
It is also important to note that Tune offers insights on how marketers can compete against ad blocking technology, including with native advertising and by leveraging other channels like email and social. Moreover, advertisers looking to fight ad blockers can check out IAB's recently released Publisher Ad Blocking Primer, which outlines tactics that can be leveraged to persuade people to stop using ad blockers.