A tough approach might just be the right tactic for publishers when it comes to fighting back against the rise of ad blockers which disrupt the value exchange at the heart of a free internet, a new experiment by a group of French publishers has found.

A collective of news and sports publishers, along with music streaming service Deezer and a number of other online services, organised a week-long initiative that saw people who visited their sites with ad blocking software active served with a message. Some websites simply asked visitors to consider switching off ad blockers, while others prevented any content from being accessed while a blocker was active.

The initiative was organised by trade association Geste, which represents online businesses and was hoping to stem the rising tide of ad blockers. Around 30 per cent of all French internet users currently make use of ad blocking software, and that figure is rising at an accelerating rate.

According to Geste, the week-long trial was a huge success, with the most severe methods also proving the most successful. Sports daily newspaper, LEquipe, which blocked content outright, saw the highest number of ad blockers whitelist the site, with around 40 per cent deactivating their blocker.

“We wanted a collective movement with many publishers, but we decided we couldnt have only one solution for us all,” said Bertrand Gié, head of digital at Le Figaro and vice president of Geste. “It turned out to be a very intelligent decision because all of us tried different things, and we can see what worked. Ninety percent of our income is advertising. We have to try everything to fight this problem.”

LEquipe limited its test to just a week, as it was seeing its search ranking decrease from blocking the content from users with ad blockers, but other publishers are continuing with the initiative, with Le Figaro still serving messages and blurring articles when users with ad blockers enter the site. The newspaper has seen 20 per cent of users whitelist the site over the period, while Le Monde, which simply informed visitors that ads helped fund the paper and pay journalists wages, saw 13 per cent deactivate ad blockers.

Le Figaro will apparently be deactivating its anti-ad blocking efforts this week so it can begin testing other messages, like incentivising blockers to whitelist in exchange for a weeks access to premium content. While the testing period continues, the consortium will prove to be a fascinating window on how publishers could adapt to the rise of ad blocking.