Apple’s ad blocking feature raises hackles of digital publishers

When iOS 9 was announced, it was found that within Safari, Apple had allowed developers to create apps that could potentially block display of certain types of content, such as ads.

According to commentators, the feature was probably aimed at blocking potentially harmful media.

Not unexpectedly publishers were not too happy about the feature, a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Considering the number of iPhone owners globally, implementing this feature could dramatically cut the number of eyeballs looking at ads, which at the moment was estimated to be a $70 billion a year business.

Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, an association of digital publishers said, the ad-blocking problem was real and growing, and ad-blocking on iOS was only going to accelerate it, ubergizmo.com reported.

Recent figures had shown that ad blocking was up by as much as 41 per cent and had already cost publishers billions of dollars.

While ad blockers could be installed in Android phones, the general concern was that by enabling it on iOS, it could take ad blocking to the mainstream.

According to commentators, there was genuine reason for concern, but whether or not iOS users would be quick to adopt ad blocking apps remained to be seen.

Meanwhile Apple's war against online advertising could escalate as the next version of its mobile operating system would support blocking of advertisements, according to media reports yesterday.

The iOS 9 would reportedly come with a Content Blocker feature that would automatically get rid of trackers, advertisements and cookies as users browsed the internet.

Ad blocking apps of the kind threatened to disrupt the mobile advertising business, estimated at $70 billion annually, media reports said even as publishers and technology companies were looking to generate more revenues from a growing mobile audience.

However, mobile users were more likely adopt the technology as the blocking of ads would cut the clutter on small screens and help pages load faster.

Apple's move would also threaten rival Google, which made more money from internet advertising than any other company. The iPhone maker already allowed ad blockers on its Safari browser for personal computers.

The use of online ad blocking software, which had seen double-digit growth, is now moving into mobile, apart from desktop devices. (See: Online marketers to take $22-bn hit from online ad blocking software in 2015: Study).