Software that blocks ads in browsers or apps cuts two ways: it reduces clutter for the viewer, but it also reduces revenue for websites that survive on the sales of those ads. Outlets ranging from newspapers to social-media platforms have been affected. A new report from PageFair, a startup that offers publishers ways to get around blockers, recently measured the phenomenon, which varies widely by region.
22%
Percentage of global smartphone users who deploy a blocker on their mobile browser
90%
Global increase in mobile users who deployed a blocker from January 2015 to January 2016
159 million
Number of ad-blocking browsers installed in China, compared with 122 million in India and only 2.3 million in the U.S.
45
Number of ad-blocking browsers available for download on the iOS and Android systems
42
Number of minutes of iPhone 6 battery life saved by using the ad blocker Purify while browsing the web, in a test performed by the New York Times
–S.B.
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