Adblock Plus had announced that they would begin selling ads (ironic, right) that they deemed ‘acceptable’ through their own platform. There had been rumors that both Google and AppNexus would be working with Adblock Plus to sell these ads, but it seems that is not at all the case.
AppNexus published a response to the news saying, “Unfortunately, the information reported in the original article around AppNexus’ involvement in any such exchange is, in fact, incorrect, and a result of an unauthorized announcement from third parties.” The third party referenced is ComboTag, which is an ad tech company that was planning on helping AdBlock Plus to sell their ads.
AppNexus went on to say, “ComboTag issued today’s announcement without our knowledge or authorization. The only AppNexus contact with whome they previewed details of the initiative was a junior support manager who is not authorized to sign off on it. When the story posted today, we promptly informed ComboTag that we would not allow Eyeo on our platform, even through the back door.” (EyeoGmbH is the parent company of Adblock Plus)
The email got much more interesting from there. AppNexus continued, “AppNexus does not work with companies like Eyeo; we regard their business practices as fundamentally harmful to the ecosystem. Essentially, Eyeo, via its AdBlock product, erects toll booths on a public road and siphons off advertising dollars that should be going directly to publishers. We hold that practice in low regard.”
From what we can tell, Google is also not going to be working with AdBlock Plus, though an official denial has not yet been released.
The general opinion of most people throughout the ad industry and most marketers as well is that AdBlock Plus is attempting to harness their position as a leading ad blocker to improve profits. While perhaps it is not legally considered extortion, it is hard to see how this could be considered a good business practice. Some people even associate this to ‘mob’ like practices. They block ads, then attempt to sell companies the ability to display ads? Sounds quite questionable morally, to say the least.
