Sourcepoint developed to block ad blockers

A recent report conducted by Adobe and PageFair found that 27.6% of Internet users in the U.S. claim to use adblock software to prevent seeing ads. That, they say, is a 69% increase in the past 12 months, now accounting for 144 million adblock users. Furthermore, PageFair claims growth has been driven by Google Chrome, on which adblock penetration nearly doubled between June 2013 and June 2014.

Broadly defined as the installation of a browser plug-in that automatically detects and prevents ads from loading, many users see ad blocking as de-cluttering their Internet experience. However websites that suffer from high rates of ad blocking are losing out on revenue. Google is reported to have lost $6.6 billion in revenue to ad blocking in the last year alone.

A former senior manager at Google has created software that he believes will help eliminate the threat that ad blockers pose to publishers. Ben Barokas, who has co-founded Sourcepoint, says his method involves a unique model in which there is a "transparent transaction" between the content creators and the consumer.

"My co-founders and I created Sourcepoint because we believe that publishers and users should be able to decide together on how content is paid for," said Barokas in a recent statement. "No longer should the exchange that happens between a content creator and consumer be implicit. We are bringing that transaction into the open by enabling the conversation between creators and consumers and providing choice to the ecosystem."

Sourcepoint will allow publishers to send a message to a site visitor who has ad blocking software installed, informing them that the content they are viewing is supported by ads and would they mind turning off their ad blocker. An alternative model will allow publishers to allow content consumers to choose their ad experience.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: ad blocker, adblock, advertising, content, publishing, technology