Publishers could be facing lost revenues of up to $27bn (£18.7bn) over the next four years, accounting for almost 10 per cent of all potential digital advertising revenues, due to the rise of ad blocking and the reduce audiences that it results in.

A new study from Juniper Research estimates that, unless online publishers find an effective strategy to counter ad blocking and reduce the growing number of consumers who are choosing to adopt the technology.

The research predicted that developer activity is set to increase over the next five years, meaning that ad blockers will grow more sophisticated and harder to overcome, spreading from in-browser blocker to in-app and network level blocking that further reduces the channels for marketing.

“Adoption is being driven by consumer concerns over mobile data usage and privacy,” said Sam Barker, author of the research. “They are also incentivised to adopt the technology in order to reduce page load times.”

Juniper points to acceptable ad initiatives and projects like Googles Accelerated Mobile Page programme as positive steps that are vital to maintaining both revenues for publishers and public trust in the ability to access the content they demand.

Smaller publishers are most at risk from the rapid adoption of ad blocking software as they often solely rely on revenues from advertising to continue operating, and with ad blocking products continuing to increase adoption, particularly among younger consumers, publishers of all levels need to develop new strategies to encourage this demographic to allow ads to be seen.