[AJ007]

One thing is for certain, publishers aren't using cohorts for how browser-breaking advertising is influencing their user retention and overall revenue. Fuck, some of the JS just for news site UI makes it clear no one is even testing their mobile sites on an actual mobile device.

If the ad block rate gets high enough, and if the CPMs do not increase in the face of dwindling supply, publishers will just make content available only in their own apps. Fake crises averted, things change, markets and businesses adapt.

[goldfeld]

I think they're ok with the clicks it brings from naive/confused smartphone users, which is exactly how wicked it is.

[AJ007]

It depends if the visitor is both interested and prepared to purchase whatever is being advertised. Someone who doesn't own a vehicle can click on auto insurance ads all day. Now matter how optimized the ads and insurance product is they will never buy. Because of the way ad buys & targeting works you really do not want unrelated users clicking through.

Do the publishers want more clicks to ads? If they look at a short period of revenue, yes, they will see a boost in their CPMs. Over the long term, as more and more advertisers block the publishers domain due to receiving worthless clicks the publisher's advertising auction prices will begin to collapse. If all of their outgoing clicks are bad eventually they will be left with advertisers who measure nothing (or measure the wrong thing, like if a video ad plays to completion) and advertisers pushing junk like adware/spyware.

Like I said before, we are talking about publishers who are not even testing out their own site on a real mobile device. Why not? May be they are still drunk on the typhoon of free traffic they've been getting from Facebook for the past couple of years.