What Will Solve Germany's Big Ad Blocking Problem?

Publishers and advertisers both have to up their game

A number of factors—consumers' privacy and security concerns for one, as well as the cost of mobile data packages—contribute to very high rates of ad blocking in Germany. eMarketer's Sean Creamer spoke with Patrick Edlefsen, managing director of D/A/CH at buy-side advertising platform Sizmek, about the new strategies publishers and advertisers need to adopt in order to thrive in this environment.

eMarketer:

How much have ad blocking rates increased in Germany?

Patrick Edlefsen:

The ad blocking situation has gone way beyond the nerds in the basement bragging about the fact that they never receive any kind of ads. And now it’s both male and female because of the younger audience who uses their mobile phone more than any other device. Their data package is never enough—they have only three or, at best, nine gigabytes per a month. In Germany, even small data packages often cost a lot of money. My nephew is 17, and we buy him data as presents.

Young people aren’t annoyed by ads across the board, but they know that adding a mobile ad blocker for free, or for a few euros, is cheaper than being spammed by irrelevant ads.

Also, any proper computer brand now makes sure that their PCs deliver a good experience—that includes usability and the options you have for ads, and especially for dealing with ads you don’t want to see. In the desktop arena, the choice to block ads is more passive, while on mobile phones it's an active choice.

Publishers are using data better. This helps create an open, transparent environment that allows for storytelling, but also allows for frequency capping across multiple players.

eMarketer:

What efforts are publishers in Germany making to curb ad blocking?

Interview conducted on July 31, 2018

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