Three, a mobile carrier based in the UK, plans to roll out ad blocking for all its customers across its network.
The company is partnering with mobile adblocking company Shine to get rid of ads for its customers, but it says that it doesn’t want to “eliminate” advertising, instead giving customers “more control.”
Shine is a network-level solution that blocks advertising on a carrier level, and allows the network to control what customers see as well as get insight into the amount of ads that are blocked.
In blocking ads, Three says that it has a number of goals, including that customers should not be paying for the data used by advertisements — instead, it thinks advertisers should bear these costs.
It also says that customer privacy should be protected when ads are shown, as well as ensuring that the ad experience is not “excessive or intrusive.”
The move sets a scary precedent for those that rely on mobile advertising to provide their services, especially considering the blocking is performed before the advertising can even reach the user’s device.
If widespread, it could affect businesses of all sizes, from Facebook to small-time publishers that rely on ad revenue. What’s clear, however, is that both users and the network providers are voicing their opinions about bad advertising.
Some companies that rely on ad revenue are going in the opposite direction. WIRED, for example, announced last week that it would block users that have an adblocker installed, instead allowing them to pay $1 per month to access an ad-free version of the site.
Three hasn’t announced when the adblocking technology will roll out, but it’s planning to introduce it in the “coming months” for its customers in the UK.
➤ Three Group to tackle excessive and irrelevant mobile ads [Three]
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