Apple’s Upcoming iOS 9 Release Will Include Ad-Blocking Functionality

Many auto dealerships are spending an increasingly large amount of money on mobile ads, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the continuing rise of mobile overall. However, Apple’s new move to make it easier to block ads on iPhones and iPads is troubling to publishers and is certainly heightening tensions with its Silicon Valley neighbors.

The next version of Apple’s mobile software will allow users to install ad-blocking apps for use on their mobile browser pages. Apple’s decision to allow such features to be part of its operating system can certainly be seen as posing a threat to the inherent operations of the media business at large.

This technology is coming next month to owners of Apple’s mobile devices, as part of the iOS 9 release. Known as the “Content Blocking” feature, some media experts feel that it will have a very negative impact on the entire mobile advertising industry. When you consider the fact there are millions of iPhones and iPads being used around the world, it seems highly likely that the introduction of Apple’s new feature will cause at least some amount of decline in the revenue of mobile advertisers and publishers.

Putting such “ad blockers” within reach of hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users threatens to disrupt the $70 billion annual mobile marketing business, where many publishers and technology companies hope to generate far more revenue from an expanding mobile audience. If fewer users see ads, publishers, and other players such as ad networks, will take in less revenue.

Apple’s move can also be seen as a competitive weapon to be used against Google, which makes more money from Internet advertising than any other company in the world. Making ad blockers available on iOS is expected to prompt more consumers to use the technology instead of its primary competitor, Google’s Android. Additionally, some people feel that the benefits of blocking ads are greater on smartphones than on desktop computers, because they can reduce the “clutter” on small screens and can help pages load faster.

“Apple is going to create a massive consumer appetite for blocking ads,” said Sean Blanchfield, chief executive of PageFair, a company that helps publishers combat ad blocking.

Also, based on marketing industry data, Apple’s audience is a more lucrative one than Google’s in this regard. Users on iOS spend more money on their devices than those on Google’s Android operating system, thereby making them more desirable to advertisers.

Does this news mean that auto dealerships should start decreasing their mobile ad spend? There’s no way to know the full impact that the release of Apple’s content blocking feature will have until it’s in the hands of consumers, so there’s no need to change ad spend yet, but it’s a situation that all advertisers should continue to follow closely.

Will a large percentage of iOS users start blocking ads or will the feature turn out to be ignored by the majority of iPhone and iPad users?