Still, this research is the latest example of the shift in the online advertising space. (Edits on April 22: it appears that Google already has plans to introduce its native Ad-Blocking features on Chrome - via WSJ ). One can imagine Google, Apple, and Microsoft changing their browser policies so that browser extensions get limited capabilities on their respective browsers. Perceptual ad-blockers also take advantage of the fact that browser extensions are given a higher priority and code privilege than ads or anti-ad blockers. It only detects ads, but doesn’t block them because the creators decided to “avoid taking sides on the ethics of ad-blocking.” Also, while the legal climate is currently friendly towards ad-blockers, a significant dent in how current publishers and advertising firms operate may pressure them to call for newer regulations and standards. Unfortunately for users - and fortunately for ad firms - this tool isn’t fully functional. Thus, if computer vision software can look for clues the same way a human would recognize ads, it can always beat ad firms who must comply with the regulations, becoming the best adblocker possible. Essentially, the FTC ruled that people must be able to recognize ads. This method is more effective since regulations exist to enforce that advertisements must be clearly labeled. It uses OCR (optical character recognition), container searches, and other computer vision techniques to mimic how humans recognize ads. The new ad-blocker, called perceptual ad-blocker, uses computer vision, instead of code matching, to detect and block ads. Also, traditional ad blockers struggle with native ads that have a similar code structure as normal content with the prime example being sponsored ads on Facebook. Adblock Plus can’t block WebSockets so YouTube ads will not be blocked), ad-blockers will become less effective. Thus, whenever advertisers and publishers change how they deliver their ads (e.g. However, Adblock Plus resorts to an open-source list of standard scripts to pick out such ads. Popular ad blockers such as Adblock Plus scan the webpage for common urls, scripts, and markup codes used by ads and use these characteristics to detect and subsequently block the ads from rendering on the page. Either way, the team at Princeton and Stanford believe that their new ad-blocker will fundamentally change this relationship. If you’re reading this on Medium, their recently introduced membership program is one example of an attempt to maintain the core product experience without resorting to ads. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, the growing adoption of ad-blocking software has already made companies think about new approaches to monetize their product. On the other hand, it allows many companies to distribute content or products for free in exchange for its users watching a couple seconds of ads. On the one hand, heavy and invasive advertisement scripts slow down website performance and degrade user experience. While ad-blocking is legal, its use has had significant ramifications for how websites pay their operational costs. Since then, it’s been a back-and-forth-race as advertising firms and publishers try to improve ads and readers trying to find the best adblocker. But as ads began to clutter websites, developers fought back by distributing ad-blockers for free. Ever since Google figured out a way to monetize an internet business via ads, it’s become the go-to monetization strategy for most internet companies.
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