This is a living article and will be updated as we find more compelling quotes about ad blocking
Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP (Campaign)
As far as ad blockers are concerned, they work on open exchanges, which is where fraud is the biggest issue. To date, they’re not on closed exchanges or apps; that doesn’t mean that technology won’t advance to a degree that they would be so that’s something that has to be watched very carefully. But there are economic consequences from ad blocking being success – namely the price of content rises.
Mary Meeker, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, at the company’s recent event (MSNBC)
“If ever there was a call to arms to create better ads, this is it,” referencing how 420 million people now use mobile ad-blockers, up 94% in the past year.
Sean Blanchfield, chief executive of PageFair, to the New York Times
“It’s already used by hundreds of millions of people. You can’t put the cat back in the bag, “
Tim Gentry, Guardian’s global revenue director, at the 2015 Monetising Media conference
“We think we’re beginning to skate on thin ice in terms of the relationships we have with advertisers and audiences. 5/6 years on we have to look at ourselves with a bit of a harsh yardstick and say we’ve not really delivered on that promise.”
Quartz publisher Jay Lauf (Digiday)
“Digital advertising has grown up a like a weed. We built all these sites and places for ads to live but rather than give real thought to the landscaping, we just let everything grow. Now, everyone is saying, ‘we’ve got kind of a mess here so we need to take a step back and clean things up.’”
Paul Lee, head of tech, media and telecoms research at Deloitte (Guardian)
“Adblocking is the thing I have been asked most about by clients, tech companies and even regulators. What is the risk for mobile especially? It does feel like a lot of money is at risk.”
Google ads SVP Sridhar Ramaswamy at 2015 The Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive conference (Business Insider)
“There needs to be more of a sustainable ad standard that we voluntarily define, and things in that standard should not get blocked,” he said. “I think this is essential to us all for survival.”
Marco Arment, creator of since-discontinued ad blocker Peace, in 2015 (Marco.org)
I still believe that ad blockers are necessary today, and I still think Ghostery is the best one, but I’ve learned over the last few crazy days that I don’t feel good making one and being the arbiter of what’s blocked.
