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At least 40% of internet users in the US have an active ad blocker installed, according to some reports. When you consider that Chrome has come prepackaged with ad-blocking capabilities since February of 2018, along with the multitude of other ad blocking extensions available to install, the picture for online advertising looks bleak. Or does it? ?

For business owners who rely on advertising to monetize their websites, however, that’s not an immediate concern. What you really want to know is this: Are ad third-party ad blockers, including Chrome’s built-in ad blocker causing your income to take a hit? Or has it already? Short answer: it depends. Long answer: on a lot of different factors.

Ad blocking and advertising are a nuanced coexistence, and there’s no cut-and-dry answer. Today, we’ll dive into the relationship between ad blocking, advertisers, Google, and your website. Then, we’ll cover actionable alternatives for monetizing your site.

How Third-Party Ad Blockers Work

Let’s backtrack a bit and talk about how ad blockers work and the state of them before Chrome’s new addition.

It’s estimated that as much as 41% of consumers between 18 and 29 years old use ad-blocking technology. Kids between the ages of 13 and 17 trail behind at 29%. Then, the further you move up the age spectrum, the lower the usage becomes.

It follows that industries with more tech-savvy users will experience higher incidences of ad-blocking technology.

There are two key reasons that users say they start using ad-blocking technology:

1. Their computers were infected with a virus (not distinguished from malware and spyware).
2. They were made aware of ad blockers.

So while publishers may not love ad blockers, users very clearly do. But just what are ad blockers doing to earn their acclaim? Ad blockers work like gatekeepers for users and prevent them from downloading unwanted elements. It interrupts the conversation between server and user before ads can be displayed.

You can see this point nicely illustrated below.

They don’t just interrupt the conversation between ads and users, however. Some also stop tracking codes from sending information about the user’s activities back to the website. For marketers, this can be a serious analytics killer.

A lot of these new ad blockers and privacy features block Google Analytics by default. ? Which means you if you’re using Google Analytics to track traffic, conversions, and even send data back to AdWords, your entire data set could be seriously skewed.

• The uBlock Origin ad blocker Chrome extension blocks Google Analytics by default (prevents the gtag.js and analytics.js scripts from loading.). This extension has 10+ million users.
• The Adblock + Adblock plus Chrome extensions both block Google Analytics if the Easylist option is enabled.
• The Tracking Protection feature in Mozilla Firefox automatically blocks Google Analytics.
• Browsers like Ghost block Google Analytics by default.
• Hundreds of other extensions and tools like Disconnect also block Google Analytics.
• GDPR plays a role in this now as well.But for users, it’s a major privacy concern. And it’s not an unnecessary concern. Just consider the case of Stylish, a now-banned browser extension that let users customize their web experiences and cut down on clutter. It was well-loved by its fans until one discovered a serious breach of privacy.

It was sending back every URL visited, and it had been storing the web history of every user since January of 2017. While this story takes it to the extreme and is technically a browser extension, it illustrates the point well: trackers can be a real problem, and ad blockers are an equally real way for regular users to deal with it.

Still, it puts website owners who rely on advertising for income in a tight spot. There are a few solutions to contending with third-party ad blockers, but they’re not always easy or worth the effort.

You can always gate your content, similar to how Business Insider does it here. On the one hand, this may help you capture revenue by getting users to sign up for special memberships (more on that later).

On the other, you may lose that lead entirely if they decide to move on to greener, more ad-block-friendly pastures.

Alternatively, you can take an even more aggressive approach and circumvent the technology altogether by “blocking the adblocker,” but that’s even more of a gamble.

You could just end up investing funds in forcing ads in front of prospects who’ve already indicated that they don’t want to see them. At best, you’ll lose money. At worst, you’ll frustrate your users. And keep in mind that this approach is only valid for users who aren’t already on Chrome, the world’s most popular browser.

So, your mileage may vary on that approach. Plus, you can always just ask. The fastest way through a locked door is often knocking, after all.

Here’s an example from Nexus Mods.

This request unobtrusively fills the space where the advertisement would be. It maintains the user’s experience and gives them something to think about. Here’s another example from Credit One Bank, a financial services/credit provider.

In both cases, users are given a request (but not a compulsion) to whitelist the provider. If they’re interested in browsing the website or using the service, they can still get to know the website with the security blanket of an ad blocker.

By contrast, users who visit Business Insider have to decide then and there between a purchase, removing their ad blocker, or leaving.

If they’re not already sufficiently motivated to pay or turn off their ad blocker, they won’t have the opportunity to find that motivation on their own.

Now that you know how third-party ad blockers work and your potential solutions, let’s talk about how Chrome differs — and how it doesn’t.

How Google Chrome’s Ad Blocker Works

We’ve mentioned already that Chrome is the most popular browser. But just how popular is it? According to StatCounter, as of August 2018, Chrome claims 59.69% of the browser market share. That’s a lot! ?

So no matter how you cut it, the ad blocker is going to hit anyone with online advertising. Unless it