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The state of ad blocking
Sourcepoint & comScore – September 2015

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 2
Introduction
Sourcepoint and comScore have worked togetherto research and measure the growing
ad blockingtrend. This document highlights some initial findings and is focused on the
incidence of ad blockingin several markets and its correlation to demographic data,top
media properties and content category.
It also provides an early look at mobile ad blocking,which is expected to experience
significant growth in the comingmonths based on the inclusion of content blocking
capabilities in iOS9 and new products beingintroducedforboth iOS and Android devices.
Later this year, additional research will be published that will provide greater detail and
granularity around the issue of ad blocking.

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 3
Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Unique Visitors)
1 in 10 Block Ads in the
US and UK, but it’s 1 in 4
in France and Germany.
The percentageof
internet users with ad
blocking software is
higher than publishers
would like across
markets but the
behavior has become
particularly widespread
in Franceand Germany,
where online privacy
concerns are high.
9%
10%
14% 14%
16%
24%
27%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 4
Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views)
Ad Blockers consume
more page viewsthan
averageinternet users.
Acrosseach of the
markets studied the
percentageof page
views affected by ad
blocking exceeded the
percentageof unique
visitors, indicating that
those who block ads
consume more internet
content on average.
12%
13%
16% 16% 16%
28%
30%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 5
Ad Blocking Incidence: Demographic
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
Age:18-24 Age:25-34 Age:35-44 Age:45-54 Age:55-64 Age:65+
US
UK
Netherlands
Spain
Canada
Germany
France
Ad Blocking SkewstoMillennials. The 18-24 yearold agesegment had highest incidence of ad blocker use in every
market included in this study, while 25-34 year olds also had above averageratesacrossthe board. In general, the
incidence of ad blocking has an inverserelationship with age.
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 6
Ad Blocking Incidence: Total Internet vs. Highest Income Segment
9% 10%
16%
24%
27%
12% 12%
18%
26%
27%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
US UK Canada Germany France
Average Highest Income Segment
Ad Blocking Increaseswith Income.Across most of the markets analyzed, the highest income demographicsegment
had a greaterpercentageof ad blockers among its ranks. The exception to this rule wasFrance, which had a consistently
high incidence of ad blockers acrossincome segments.
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 7
Ad Blocking Incidence: Top 100 Media Properties
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
27
35
23
16 19
7
3
60
52
50 63
49
33
18
10 11
15
19
22
20
26
6
6
24
35
4
4
12 14
4 4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
US UK Netherlands Spain Canada Germany France
50%+
40-49.9%
30-39.9%
20-29.9%
10-19.9%
0-9.9%
Certain Top Media
Properties Attract a
High PercentageofAd
Blockers. The Top 100
media properties across
markets had varying
degreesof ad blocking
amongst their
audiences.While the
majority of these
audiences fell into the
<20% threshold, a much
higher percentageof
media properties came
from the 30%+ buckets
in Franceand Germany.

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 8
Ad Blocking Incidence: Content Category
Source: comScore UDM, June 2015 (Desktop users only)
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Bus/Finance Games Health Lifestyles News/Info Social Media Sports
US
UK
Netherlands
Spain
Canada
Germany
France
Certain Content CategoriesareMore Exposed toAd Blocking. In many of the markets studied, the percentageof ad
blockers was elevatedin certaincategoriessuch as Online Games and Social Media. In Germany, the percentage
affecting the Lifestylescategorywasthe highest of any measured.

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 9Source: Sourcepoint Analytics, July 2015
Ad Blocker Market Share & Emerging Blockers
Marketfor Ad Blockers is Fragmenting.New entrants like uBlock and Adguard have each grown to over 1 million daily
active usersin less than a year. Eyeo’s Adblock Plus owns slightly more than half the market, although its “acceptable
ads” programis driving usersto “pure” ad blocking software.
38%
51%
4%
3%
2%
1%
1%
Adblock (Chrome)
Adblock Plus
Adblock Pro
Adblock for Youtube
Ublock Origin
Adguard Adblocker
Other
222%
833%
231%
65%
84%
0.0% 200.0% 400.0% 600.0% 800.0%
uBlock
uBlock Origin
AdguardAdblocker
Adblock Pro
Adblock for Youtube
Ad Blocker Market Share Growth ofEmerging AdBlockers
10 month period, November 2014– August 2015

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 10Source: Sourcepoint Analytics, July 2015
Mobile Ad Blocking Rates by Country (Page Views)
0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5%
7.9%
9.0%
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
10.0%
UK US Netherlands France Canada Spain Germany China India
Mobile ad blocking has significant traction in India &China. Mobile ad blocking is currentlymainly availablethrough
niche browsers such as UCBrowser, and Maxthon, which have built up significant user basesin Asia.The introduction of
content blocking in iOS9 is expected to increasemobile ad blocking in Europe and North America.

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© comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 11
Methodology
The comScore data included in the report is derived
from its opt-­in panel of approximately 2 million
desktop internet users from around the world. The
data is collected through passive observation of a
sample group. The results are then statistically
weighted to provide an accurate representation of
each included country’s Internet population.
http://www.comscore.com/
The Sourcepoint data included in this report is based
on analysis of actual ad block instances – both
desktop and mobile – faced by dozens of premium
publishers. In addition, Sourcepoint provided
Comscore with details on how its panel could be
used to detect the presence of the most popular ad
blocking software.
http://www.sourcepoint.com/