Facebook Takes On Ad Blockers, Ads To Appear On Desktop

To combat ad blockers, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is tweaking the way it loads advertisements on its desktop website. As a result, users will get to see ads despite blockers in place. However, the social media service was quick to add that it was also adding new tools that will help users "control" the type of ads they want to see. This way it can avoid irking its 1.7 billion users who prefer not to be irritated by too many ads.

However, Facebook isn’t changing its ad loading strategy for handheld devices as these are already less vulnerable to ad blockers.

In a blog post yesterday, VP of Facebook’s Ads & Business Platform said “for the past few years at Facebook we’ve worked to better understand people’s concerns with online ads. What we’ve heard is that people don’t like to see ads that are irrelevant to them or that disrupt or break their experience. People also want to have control over the kinds of ads they see.As a result of what we’ve learned, we’ve introduced tools to help people control their experience, improved how we decide which ads to show and created new ad formats that complement, rather than detract from, people’s experience online.”

Also, he mentioned that instead of paying ad blocker companies to unblock the ads Facebook shows, it has chosen to empower users to manage their ad preferences.

The Wall Street Journal observes that though Facebook’s derives majority of its revenues from mobile, it highlighted disruption due to ad blockers when it comes to revenues from the desktop site. The report further adds that the severity of threat from ad blockers prompted Facebook to list it as a separate risk factor in its annual SEC filing.

Ad revenues contribute over 95% of Facebook’s total revenues. The increasing usage of ad blockers threatens ad revenue growth. Usage of ad blockers both within the U.S and elsewhere has increased manifold in the last few years. As per media reports, the number of people using ad blockers in the U.S. this year is expected to grow 35% to 70 million.

Many analysts have labeled the “forceful” display of ads as one of the “tough moves” the company has taken in recent times in the face of rising usage of ad blockers.

At present, Facebook sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Other stocks worth considering in the tech space include Quotient Technology Inc. (NYSE:QUOT) , MeetMe, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEET) and VeriSign Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) . While Quotient Technology sports the same rank as Facebook, MeetMe and VeriSign carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).