Ad Blockers: The Definitive Guide

Ad Blockers: The Definitive Guide

Intro to Ad Serving
23 minutes read
Updated on June 9, 2026

Table of Contents

  1. First off, why should I care about ad blockers?
  2. What are the major desktop ad blockers?
  3. How does ad blocking work?
  4. How can I see the impact of ad blockers on my site?
  5. How to monetize your ad block users
  6. Finally, make sure to QA your site to understand how ad blockers impact the user experience
  7. Summary

As you look to monetize your site with ads, it’s important to understand how adblock works and how it could impact your revenue - and what you can do to mitigate this pain.

The below article touches upon how ad blockers work and offers strategies for monetizing adblock users.

I’ll be focusing here on desktop, browser-based ad blocking, but you can read about mobile ad blocking here.

First off, why should I care about ad blockers?

Ad monetization relies on ads being shown and tracked (and ideally seen and interacted with). For this to happen, not only does the ad need to appear, but the tracking impression pixel needs to fire. Ad blockers prevent both from loading - meaning you’d make no ad revenue for that user’s session.

(This applies not just to programmatic ads served through JavaScript tags, but also (1) internal promotions delivered through a third-party ad server and (2) custom native advertising platforms built in-house.

Ad block usage rates vary by the source. GlobalWebIndex in 2019 pegged it at 35%-40% across every continent, while Statista and eMarketer put it closer to 25%-30%. I have not seen any recent data that puts it below 20% or above 50%.

What are the major desktop ad blockers?

While there are no recent market share breakdowns, we have a few data points. First, there’s this 2015 breakdown, with AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and AdBlock Pro (all different companies) comprising 93% of the market.

This Uponit 2017 report meanwhile shows that AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and uBlock account for about 80% of ad blockers.

How does ad blocking work?

It’s not as simple as "ad blockers block JavaScript ad tags from firing.” In fact, different browsers block ads in different ways, not all ad blockers stop the same ads, and upcoming Google Chrome changes (Manifest V3) will upend the process sometime in 2020.

Browser Extensions (Chrome, Microsoft Edge/IE, Firefox)

For about 90% of the browser market, ad blockers work as free downloadable browser extensions. Depending on the rule, the ad blocker may leave just an empty space where the ad would have gone, replace it with different content, leave parts of the ad and hide others, or hide the element so there’s no awkward white space.

1. HTTPS Request Blocking - Here, the extensions listen to outgoing HTTPS requests and block any from known ad platforms.

2. CSS Rules To Hide Elements - Ad blockers have to find alternative routes to stop promotions based on the styling and element identifiers, such as regex.(https://medium.com/better-programming/how-ad-blockers-work-and-what-they-mean-for-web-developers-f151fd73ec28)

Examples of different methods are discussed as well as statistics on how blocking technology is structured and implemented across various platforms.

How can I see the impact of ad blockers on my site?

Your revenue impact from ad blockers will depend on your traffic’s mixture of browser usage, ad block adoption rates, and type of ad blocker usage.

Look at Google Analytics for browser details

The easiest way to see browser breakdown is via your analytics solution.

Understand ad block usage rates

To see what percentage of your traffic uses an ad blocker, you can add a tracking script or use Google Tag Manager.

How to monetize your ad block users

Join the Acceptable Ads program (AA)

It’s a way for publishers to pay to have their ads whitelisted by ad blockers. All three of the top ad blockers - AdBlock, Adblock Plus, and uBlock - are in the program.

The program is not without controversy; larger companies might consider alternatives.

Prompt users to turn off the ad blocker

You could build dialogue boxes to request users to disable their ad blocker, but tread lightly as many users leave sites with such restrictions.

Provide an alternative value exchange for ad block users

If you can’t monetize them with ads, substitute with internal promotions or subscriptions.

Insert ads into your videos and podcasts

Ad blockers can't block ads embedded directly into video/audio streams.

Finally, make sure to QA your site to understand how ad blockers impact the user experience

Continuously test if your ads are getting blocked, and across different browsers and blockers, to fix anything that's broken as needed.

Summary

Ad blockers are a response to poor user experience due to excessive and intrusive advertising. To mitigate revenue loss from ad blockers, reviewing ad practices and shifting towards more user-friendly, native ad options could be beneficial.

Kevel Team
The Kevel Team is made up of retail media, ad tech, and commerce experts helping brands build world-class ad platforms. Our content reflects the collective knowledge of practitioners working at the forefront of the industry.