Restricting access to pages to users of banner cutters, expert opinions

    You probably remember our large-scale survey of Russian media representatives regarding the state of affairs in the fight against ad blockers, the share of users, and so on.

    I would like to continue this eventful and reflection topic.

    Firstly, the German weekly journal Bild does not stop asking this, for some time now the following is shown on the main page of which, when trying to enter with the blocker turned on.


    And, in addition, last week it became known that after 5 unsuccessful lawsuits for Axel Springer (publisher of the Bild newspaper) in relation to the development company AdBlock Plus (Eeyo), the publisher decided to continue the litigation strategy, switching to developers of similar decisions “ smaller ".

    And the domestic publication CNews, apparently having decided to increase its own advertising inventory, shows such a notification to users who visit their own pages and try to click on the links.



    The restrictions that prevent a visitor to a website from freely viewing materials on its pages, depending on the absence or presence of certain extensions (in this particular case, an ad blocker), cease to amaze anyone.

    In this regard, we decided to ask the experts involved two simple questions:
    1. Is there a future for such a strategy to deal with banner cutters?
    2. In your opinion, what are the legal prospects for litigation regarding “competition restrictions” aimed at blocker developers?

    German Klimenko, “IRI”:
    Such a local struggle with ad blockers is comparable in effectiveness with the crusades of the beginning of the second millennium. The topic is indicated. There are knights, but they are few and not from the top of the ruling class. There is a lot of PR, but the result is not very. Without the consolidated support of leaders: Google, Apple, Microsoft, such demarches are unlikely to be more effective than an attack by Don Quixote.

    Aleksey Ametov, a media editor for Look At Me:
    This will not work. No restrictions, no lawsuits.

    Leonid Delitsyn, expert at FINAM financial holding:
    The legal perspectives of court cases of this kind, in our opinion, are illusory, since displaying advertisements is the main way to make money online media. The publication is quite capable of approving a policy of individual content submission to users and recording users with banner cutters in a separate category. As a rule, such users make up a very small proportion of the audience, in addition, the constant audience of online media is generally small compared to the one they purchase on portals or attract by exchanging banners. The fight against banner cuts in itself is probably just the experiments of the management of a particular media, but it can hardly be considered as part of a business model. Indeed, in most business publications, advertising is quite relevant, and contains information that readers also want to see. Banner cutter of course

    Jovan Savovich, owner of Leprozoria and Dirty:
    It seems to me that this is archaic and short-sighted, because it undermines the trust of users, and users are all that we have. There is no future in the fight against banner cutters, it seems to me.
    Advertising should be native and pleasing to users, and not forcing them to cut and block things.

    Igor Gladkoborodov, Technical Director Coub:
    Many publications do something similar. But basically this is not content blocking, but a request to turn off the blocking with the explanation that the advertisement allows the publication to live.

    I'm not sure about court cases. Most likely, on the contrary, it will give good PR to banner cutters and more people will set them up for themselves.

    With the fact that some users use banner cutters, we must come to terms with the inevitable evil and try to negotiate with them in a good way to reduce this percentage.

    Dmitry Navosha, Sports.ru:
    I have no clear position on the initiative of Bild and CNews. She looks harsh. On the other hand, if publications, due to a shortage of money, begin to close even faster than they are closing now, nobody will be better off - including users who block ads.


    What do you think?

    The publication is being updated.

    Only registered users can participate in the survey. Please come in.

    Will Bild manage to defend its position in German courts?

    • 4.7% Yes 18
    • 79.5% No 304
    • 15.7% What is the conversation about? 60

    Do you think the CNews behavior strategy is effective?

    • 7.9% Yes 34
    • 88% No 375
    • 3.9% No opinion 17

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