In the second quarter of 2023, there were 912 million adblock users worldwide. This number includes users of desktop adblock plugins, desktop adblock browsers, and mobile ad block browsers.

Adblock plugin users worldwide – additional information

Adblock plugin, a browser extension which blocks nearly all formats of advertising in a website, has seen its popularity grow at a fast pace since the beginning of 2010. About 236 million people browse the internet using an ad block plugin as of December 2016, a significant increase from the beginning of 2013, when the number of active adblock users worldwide added up to 54 million. The adblock plugin is particularly popular amongst internet users in Poland, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Canada. Poland has the highest adblocking penetration rate, as about 42 percent of internet users in the country used adblock in December 2016.

The adblock plugin is more popular amongst young internet users; 20 percent of internet users in the age groups of 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 years used adblock as of September 2016. This share slightly decreases with age – only 14 percent of internet users aged between 55 and 64 years old used the service. Adblock plugins are also more common amongst Chrome users in comparison to Firefox users. The number of monthly active adblock plugins Chrome users rounded up to about 126 million in the beginning of 2015, while the number of Firefox users that use adblock plugins was at 48 million in the same period.

With the increasing popularity of adblock services, the economic cost of ad blocking usage for advertisers has also risen in the last few years. By 2016, the estimated global loss of revenue due to adblock is forecast to reach more than 41 billion U.S. dollars, which is nearly double of the 2015 figure. In the U.S., advertising agency professionals are divided in their level of concern about ad blocking impact in the business. While 46 percent of advertising agency professionals are somewhat concern about adblock, around 45 percent of them are not concern at all.

In the second quarter of 2023, there were 416 million desktop adblock users worldwide. Total (desktop and mobile) number of adblock users stood at 912 million.

In the second quarter of 2023, there were 496 million users of mobile adblocking browsers worldwide. At the same point in time, the number of users of desktop adblocking browsers stood at 416 million.

During the third quarter of 2022, the average global adblocking rate was estimated at 35.7 percent. China, Indonesia, and Vietnam were top of the class, with adblocking penetration rates over 40 percent. This was followed by 39 percent of surveyed Indian and 38 percent of surveyed Taiwanese admitting to using software blocking online advertising. In the United States, 33.6 percent of internet users said they used adblockers. The lowest adblocking usage was recorded in Ghana, with 11.6 percent, and Japan - 15.8 percent. As far as demand goes, Europe had the highest number of searches for adblocking software per 100,000 internet users worldwide.

What are the implications of adblocking to the advertising industry?

Globally, adblocking costs advertisers billions of dollars and the losses are growing year on year. Unsurprisingly, marketers around the world have grown increasingly wary of the growing popularity of adblocking usage. Obviously, some have more to worry about than others, seeing that residents of certain countries are more prone to using ad blockers compared to rest.

During a survey carried out between January 2023 and January 2024, nine percent of responding adult consumers from 48 countries worldwide stated they had installed an ad blocker and/or anti-tracking into both their web browser and on their mobile / cellphone. Four in ten said they did not use an ad blocker or an anti-tracking service on any device.

This statistic presents the share of adblock users in the United States who whitelisted certain online offers from their ad blocker so that they could still see advertsing. During the May 2017 survey, 46 percent of respondents reported to have not whitelisted any online offers from their adblockers, while 20 percent stated that they had whitelisted online offers from websites where they found the advertising interesting.

The ad blocker market is experiencing robust growth, driven by increasing user concerns over online privacy and intrusive advertising. While precise market sizing data wasn't provided, considering the prevalence of ad blockers and the consistently high CAGR in related tech sectors (let's assume a conservative CAGR of 15% for illustrative purposes), a reasonable estimate for the 2025 market size could be around $2 billion. This signifies a substantial market opportunity, projected to reach approximately $6 billion by 2033 based on this estimated CAGR. Key drivers include the rising sophistication of advertising techniques, user frustration with pop-ups and irrelevant ads, and growing awareness of data privacy issues. Trends indicate a shift towards more sophisticated ad-blocking solutions, including AI-powered blockers that can identify and filter even the most advanced forms of online advertising. Furthermore, the market is seeing the integration of ad-blocking features within browsers and operating systems, suggesting further market consolidation and growth in the years to come. However, restraints include the ongoing "arms race" between ad blockers and advertisers, who are constantly developing new methods to bypass ad-blocking software. Legal challenges and concerns regarding the impact on online publishers' revenue models also pose significant challenges to the market's long-term trajectory. The market is segmented by deployment type (cloud-based vs. on-premises) and user type (large enterprises vs. SMEs). Cloud-based solutions are expected to dominate due to ease of deployment and management. Large enterprises often adopt more comprehensive ad-blocking solutions tailored to their needs, while SMEs prefer simpler, cost-effective options. The geographical distribution of the ad blocker market is broad, with North America and Europe currently holding significant shares. However, regions like Asia-Pacific are expected to show considerable growth, driven by increasing internet penetration and smartphone usage. The competitive landscape is highly fragmented, with a multitude of players offering diverse solutions, ranging from open-source options like uBlock Origin to premium commercial offerings like AdGuard. This competition contributes to innovation and drives down prices, benefiting end-users. The future of the ad blocker market hinges on the evolving relationship between users, advertisers, and publishers – finding a balance that respects user privacy, supports sustainable advertising models, and provides a positive user experience online.

This statistic presents the share of adblock users paying for adblocker programs in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 18 percent of respondents stated they had been paying for adblocker programs.

This statistic presents the share of adblock users satisfied with their adblocker program in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 55 percent of respondents reported to have been somewhat satisfied with the performance of their adblocker program.

Acceptable Ads is a whitelisting function of Adblock Plus, which shows selected ads to Adblock Plus users by default. According to the company which develops both Adblock Plus, Acceptable Ads reached 200 million Adblock Plus users worldwide as of March 2020; 13 thousand websites were whitelisted, out of which 90 percent were allowed to do so free of charge. A different source found that 86 percent of publisher sites were not using any ad block recovery technologies.

This statistic presents the types of advertisements that were blocked according to smartphone adblock users in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 63 percent of respondents reported that they had their adblock prevent pop-up advertising on their smartphone.

When it comes to the people using ad blockers in selected countries worldwide, Portugal ranks the highest in this list. 29 percent of consumer in Portugal share this attitude. Following in the second place is Singapore, while South Korea can be found at the bottom of the ranking.Statista Consumer Insights offer you all results of our exclusive Statista surveys, based on more than 2,000,000 interviews.

This statistic presents the types of advertisements that were blocked according to PC adblock users in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 74 percent of respondents reported that they had their adblock prevent pop-up advertising on their PCs.

This statistic presents the leading adblockers used by consumers in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 31 percent of respondents reported to have personally used Adblock Plus, while 19 percent of respondents reported to have used a built-in adblocker.

This statistic presents the types of advertisements that were blocked according to tablet adblock users in the United States as of May 2017. During the survey period, 64 percent of respondents reported that they had their adblock prevent pop-up advertising on their tablets.

According to a study from the second quarter of 2020 on leading reasons for using adblocking according to internet users in the United States, 44 percent of respondents used adblockers because they didn't want their online behavior to be tracked. At the same time, 71 percent of respondents said that they found websites more manageable without banners.

In the second quarter of 2023, 307 million adblock users worldwide opted into the Acceptable Ads program. Out of this number, 168 million were desktop users and 139 million were mobile users. The Acceptable Ads initiative was created by Eyeo GmbH (the owner of AdBlock Plus) to help publishers monetize advertising and promote digital ads consumers find "acceptable."

The source estimated that ad blocking would cost the advertising industry roughly 54 billion U.S. dollars in lost revenue in 2024. The regions generating largest losses are North America with 24 billion and Asia-Pacific with 18 billion dollars.

During a 2021 survey carried out among internet users in Spain, nearly 54 percent of respondents stated they occasionally or frequently used ad blockers. The figure remained flat compared to the values from a year earlier. The highest value in the presented period was reported in 2016, when nearly 60 percent of respondents stated they used ad blocking software.

During a 2021 survey carried out in the United States, 50 percent of respondents stated they used AdBlock, developed by BetaFish Incorporated, making it the most popular ad blocking software in the North American country. AdBlock Plus, developed by Eyeo GmbH, was named by 25 percent of respondents.