[INTERVIEW] 'Google can't beat Adblock Plus'

Adblock Plus chief skeptical of Chrome's new ad blocker By Park Jae-hyuk HONG KONG

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─ Adblock Plus (ABP) CEO Till Faida is confident that Google Chrome's upcoming built-in ad blocker will not be able to defeat ABP. "It is important to point out that this is not something new. There always have been pop-up blockers built into all the major browsers," he said in an interview with The Korea Times on the sidelines of the RISE 2017 conference at the Hong Kong Convention Center, Wednesday. "What Google has announced is that this is going to be an advanced version of the built-in pop-up blocker. But still, I believe that most users want to have full control of what kind of ads they want to see and what kind of ads they want to block. For that, they will still need Adblock Plus." After Google's announcement last month about its plan to add a built-in ad blocker to Chrome in 2018, concerns have grown among industry observers that ABP and other ad blockers will take a hit. Given that Google has been highly dependent on profits from ads, however, Faida expected the new ad blocker will be "a very limited version." The chief executive of one of the world's biggest ad blocking companies, therefore, believes Google's ad-blocker will not pose a serious challenge to top ABP, just as other ad blockers haven't been able to do so either. "This will not necessarily be any competition for us. I think we are targeting a very different segment of users. ABP is very popular especially among sophisticated users who care about privacy issues," he said. "People decide on ABP, not for lack of alternatives." Faida also clarified his opinion on the criticism for "acceptable ads." ABP has recently come under fire for launching a platform that allows publishers to decide whether to sell and to show white-listed ads on their websites. "Publishers need to monetize through ads. Also, almost everybody who installs ad-blocker agrees with the concept that not all ads are bad and some ads are necessary," the entrepreneur said. "We saw an opportunity to create a win-win situation." Since its release in 2006, ABP has faced attacks from website publishers who have depended on ads for their revenue. Some of them filed lawsuits against the company and some blocked the access of users activating ad-blockers. However, all of those attempts failed. Faida wants his company's new payment system to offer "a friendly choice" to its users by allowing them a way to compensate content creators. Emphasizing that ABP does not oppose all kind of ads, the businessman advised advertisers to make ads which can create value for users if they really want consumers to see their ads. "Ads can work if they create value and if they are entertaining," he said. "This requires more effort, but it is worth it. It is a much more sustainable way to interact with your audiences than by just simply annoying them."