Adblock Plus has had a swell few months. Just four months ago, the company had announced that its tool had passed 500 million downloads. Today, at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in Brooklyn, co-founder Till Faida announced that the service now houses more than 100 million active users.
The latest numbers were the work of data scientists who worked for months to get accurate results without breaking Adblock’s strict privacy policy. Also, the 100 million active users are actually active ‘installations’ i.e., if you use Adblock Plus on multiple devices, you will be counted as more than one user/installation.
At the beginning of this year, the company had reported 500 million downloads and close to 50 million active users. The almost doubling in the numbers represents significant growth in ad blocking.
Adblock Plus, for almost a decade, has been a service used as an extension or an add on with their browsers on a variety of platforms to take control of their online experience. The service is available over all the leading browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer/Edge on Desktop and also on mobile browsers over Android and iOS.
The mobile platforms alone contribute more than 10 million downloads, which Faida says can be improved significantly considering the overall user base.
According to Faida, the aim of the company is not to completely obliterate ads, but to rid users of disruptive substances online. He gives the example of a screaming animation next to an article’s text. To achieve this, the company has come up with an Acceptable Ads initiative. This initiative blocks ads like a semi-permeable membrane allowing non-intrusive ads– which exceed 700 entities– through. This way both the users and the advertisers can be satisfied.
If you are reading these words and aren’t yet part of the 100 million club, climb aboard! We really encourage you to click over to the extensions or add-ons gallery of your favorite browser – we’re available on almost all of them – and install Adblock Plus on your desktop. Just look for the (original) red stop sign with ABP letters.
the announcement reads.
Just a couple of days ago, we reported that Windows’ Edge browser had started receiving Adblock and Adblock Plus extensions that Windows Insiders could enjoy.
