In the irony to end all ironies, the makers of Adblock Plus are launching an advertising service for marketers and publishers looking to circumvent ad-blocking software like its own.
The company explains that the database includes a wide range of ads that have already been checked for compliance with the criteria for Acceptable Ads. Adblock Plus teamed with publisher platform-provider ComboTag to build what will be known as the Acceptable Ads Platform, an interactive platform that lets publishers and bloggers choose from a marketplace of pre-whitelisted ads that they can drag and drop onto their sites. Websites that pull from the platform are essentially choosing "pre-approved" ads for users who have Adblock Plus installed, while users without an ad blocker installed will continue to see the ads the site normally serves. "The Acceptable Ads Platform lets publishers reach the former group".
"We've been waiting years for the ad-tech industry to do something consumer-friendly like this, so finally we got exhausted of waiting and made a decision to just do it ourselves", Faida said. Only around 10% of the companies taking part in the Acceptable Ads initiative are required to pay.
Adblock Plus' Acceptable Ads feature selectively blocks advertising and allows nonintrusive ads through. Adblock Plus will keep 6 percent of the total revenue.
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The irony of the announcement wasn't lost on ad-block users, some of whom took to Twitter to weigh in on the change, and even encourage Adblock Plus users to switch to other ad-blocking software like uBlock Origin.
Back in 2011 Adblock started running what they call the Acceptable Ads program to which the marketplace has become an extension.
"As many of you know, the filter lists that "tell" Adblock Plus what to block are in fact the product of a global community of web citizens", taunted Adblock Plus in their response last month. Previously, only 70-ish undisclosed companies had been "whitelisted", meaning that they paid for the ability to evade ad-blocking, and the process of approving their ads as non-disruptive could take weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"Rather than paying ad blocking companies to unblock the ads we show - as some of these companies have invited us to do in the past - we're putting control in people's hands with our updated ad preferences and our other advertising controls", declared Facebook, before Adblock Plus responded with an update that showed users how to override Facebook's new ad-block deterrent.
