Users are currently using Adblock Plus and TrustGo to control the amount of advertising they see on applications and mobile web. There are currently around 144 million active ad blocker users around the world. However, an Israeli start-up mobile ad blocking company called Shine is reported to have the support of mobile carriers. As proof, Shine has announced its first official customer, Jamaica-based operator Digicel.
As reported in Business Insider, Shine aims to work with mobile carriers to block ads at a network level and has taken its first major step with acquiring Digicel as its first customer. While Digicel may be a small company, this is a major move that other mobile carriers might follow suit. For the first time, an ad-blocking company will switch off all ads on the mobile web for all its customers.
If this rollout proves successful, this could spur other larger companies to start blocking ads worldwide. For web publishers in Jamaica, the "ad-block-alypse" has finally dawned.
Digicel is reported to deploy the technology to its customers in Jamaica before offering the ad control service to other markets in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Digicel has a total of 13.6 million subscribers across 31 markets. Shine offers a system that blocks display and video ads in both apps and mobile browsers. The ability to block ads in apps is one major edge of Shine. The mobile ad blockers in the market right now can only block ads on the mobile web.
More so, the ad blocking feature for Digicel customers may be rolled out as a standard instead of an add-on service. Although the company says it may offer the ability to switch off the feature to its customers, it will not be an optional add-on to their current services. A Digicel spokeswoman told Business Insider that only certain sites such as the local news sites won't see their ads blocked.
Digicel is calling big advertising companies including Google, Yahoo and Facebook to engage in a revenue-share deal. Digicel's argument is that, ads use up as much as 10 percent of customers' data plan allowance and advertising companies are not fairly compensating mobile carriers for its bandwidth's use. Might as well reinvest the money to ad blocker like Shine.
