Over 12m internet users now using ad-blockers in Pakistan

Globally, 11% internet users have ad- blockers installed on their devices

More than 12 million internet users in the country are now using ad-blockers to bypass digital advertising.

A new report published by PageFair suggests that some 32% of internet users in Pakistan now have ad-blockers installed on their devices that range from smartphones to tablets to desktop computers. This shows an increase of almost 65% compared to last year’s figure.

Adblocking browsers are particularly popular in the South Asian region with countries scoring quite high compared to the global average of 11%. The report puts the total number of ad-blocker users at 615 million globally.



Ad-blocker leads to tens of billions of dollars in losses for publishers annually. Critics have argue that internet users break an unwritten pack with websites and digital publishers by blocking ads which are their main source of revenue.

This, however, is also considered a blacklash for invasive advertising tactics by publishers. For years they have resorted to ever-more annoying advertisements that include full-screen pop-ups, auto-playing audio (or video), and an attempt to fill free space with as many ads as possible.



Another issue with ads is the use of cookies to get information for target advertisement. Cookies provide publishers the data that can be used to what websites their users had used in order to serve them ads of relevant products.

This also poses a security concern as anyone who can pay for it, could get access to the sensitive data.

This article originally appeared on The Next Web