Adblock Plus launches ‘Acceptable Ads’ service

BERLIN, Germany – The German firm behind Adblock Plus, the adblocker software, on Wednesday announced the launch of a service of “Acceptable Ads” for content publishers.

Adblock Plus has teamed up “with publisher platform provider ComboTag to build what will be known as the Acceptable Ads Platform, an interactive platform that lets publishers and bloggers choose from a marketplace of pre-whitelisted ads that they can drag and drop onto their sites,” a statement by the firm Eyeo GmbH said.

Developed 10 years ago and downloaded hundreds of millions of times, the open-source software Adblock Plus is one of the most popular ad-blocking programmes, aimed at preventing intrusive adverts from popping up on the screen and tracking a user’s search history for commercial ends.

But while Adblock Plus stands as a bulwark against intrusive advertising, websites dependent on advertising revenue to remain free-of-charge see the open source software as a scourge.

The German firm added that it would still be possible to block ads which didn’t meet required criteria and that the “Acceptable Ads” option could be turned off completely.

Adobe and Pagefair, which help Internet sites circumvent the blockers, have estimated that nearly $22 billion in revenues were lost globally last year as a result of ad-blocking software. – Rappler.com