UK publishers are faced with the one of the highest rates of ad blocking worldwide and, as a result, will lose 2.9bn in revenue this year alone.

According to a study by big data platform OnAudience.com, the UK has ad blocking rates of 39 per cent, putting it behind only Poland, Greece, Norway, Germany and Demark in the amount of ad blocking experienced. This UK ad blocking rate has seen revenue losses increase 15 per cent from the £2.5bn lost in 2016.

Furthermore, 32 per cent of consumers visiting eCommerce sites in Europe were found to have an ad blocker installed. Similarly, 34 per cent of page views are generated by shoppers using ad blocker plugins and have started the purchasing process in an online store.

“There has been much discussion calling for advertising to provide a better user experience, but this report clearly shows that not enough is being done as ad blocking rates continue to rise – causing a significant loss for publishers and the advertising industry as a whole,” said Maciej Sawa, CCO at OnAudience.com. “Ultimately user experience is key, so it is extremely important for the entire digital marketing industry to keep the consumer in mind and ensure that their journey is relevant, contextual, and meaningful ­– if we are to ever convince them not to install ad blockers.”

The ad blocking problem in Europe isn’t reflected quite as much around the globe. The USA and Japan both recorded ad blocking rates of 26 per cent, while Latin America has the lowest rates in the world. Paraguay recorded rates of just five per cent ad blocked page views, while Peru and Venezuela had rates of 13 and 10 per cent respectively.

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