Alliance for Audited Media launches its ad blocker detection service

On the heels of the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) recently released primer on ad blocking, the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) has launched an Ad Block Gauge so websites can detect ad blockers.

It comes in a standalone version or as part of the Illinois-based organization’s new Site Certifier tool for website and app metrics.

Vice President of Product Leadership Joe Hardin told me that the Gauge is free when included with the Certifier, but there is a fee when it’s standalone. The pricing, like that of Certifier, is figured out on a case-by-case basis, dependent on traffic.

AAM bills the Gauge as “the industry’s first ad blocking detection technology available from an independent, unbiased third party.” IAB also offers a free ad blocker detection script, and other such tools are available from various ad tech companies and other sources.

Hardin said the difference is that this is a service from a neutral third-party source that is not selling advertising. To use it, a site adds some JavaScript to pages on the site, which call the online service.

The Gauge provides data in a custom dashboard set up by AAM about percentage of page impressions blocked, as well as the operating system, geolocation and device type of the blocking visitor.

But there’s no information on how many or which ads were blocked, nor on the specific URLs of pages blocked, so the publisher can’t assess the financial impact. There’s also no indication of which ad blocker software has been employed.

Earlier this week, the IAB released a “Publisher Ad Blocking Response Primer,” which included a four-step strategy for publishers to fight ad blockers, under the acronym DEAL:

• Detect ad blocking, in order to initiate the conversation

• Explain the value exchange that advertising enables

• Ask for changed behavior in order to maintain an equitable exchange

• Lift and Levy restrictions in response to consumer choices

Hardin said Ad Block Gauge was “a first step” by AAM to support the detect step in the IAB approach, helping to “initiate the conversation.”