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back to article One ad-free day: Three UK to block adverts across network in June

Mobile operator Three is pushing ahead with plans to block ads on its network in the UK during a one-day trial next month. Sam Barker, an analyst at Juniper Research, said other operators are likely to follow suit. "Although the operators are likely to push this as a consumer-focused benefit, the reality is that the operators …

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  1. Michael B.

    I'm not convinced this is a good idea at a network level since there are a number of sites that refuse to show content unless you enable ads, Channel 4's site for one. So blocking at the network level, unless there is a user defined whitelist that is easy to manipulate at the browser level, is probably going to cause more headaches in the long term.

    8 7 Reply
    1. Sir Sham Cad
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      Re: refuse to show content

      Now I'm not an expert in this but I think these sites detect whether you've got an ad-blocker installed, browser side. They wouldn't be able to detect at a network level. I know my users can still get to these sites even though our web filtering software blocks the ads.

      12 0 Reply

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: refuse to show content

        "Now I'm not an expert in this but I think these sites detect whether you've got an ad-blocker installed, browser side"

        Me either, but I can confirm that remote proxy blocking can also trigger these, I have squid using a URL black list, which ITV complains about with no ad blocker in the browser.

        1 0 Reply
    2. Natalie Gritpants
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      Well, if the blocking is by a large operator they are going to notice a massive drop in traffic and probably back down.

      5 0 Reply
      1. Adam 52 Silver badge
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        Why would they back down? If you're not viewing ads then you're just a drain on resources.

        6 1 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          This could be a test for a new product offering from Three

          Especially since it is just for a day, the web sites won't back down. If anything it will cause more to put up such protection, due to the worry that customers will like the network level blocking and request it be added as a feature.

          Now if Three could add it, and customers would pay extra for it, and the revenue would be split with the site operators that might help solve the problem of "who pays for the content if there are no ads". Maybe that's the idea behind all this - Three wants to find out if customers would be willing to pay for this as a permanent service.

          2 0 Reply
        2. William 3 Bronze badge
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          When they start hosting those ads themselves they won't be blocked will they.

          1 0 Reply
    3. Dwarf
      Reply Icon

      @Michael B.

      And when the remote site's traffic level drops to zero, I wonder what they will decide to do then.

      Keep enforcing the "we must advertise to nobody" or "we must change our approach"

      Personally, I believe that the internet should not filter at any point.

      Let the endpoints decide what they want to do and let standards sort out the misuse of technology

      2 1 Reply
  2. Craig 2

    In theory a good idea. However, who knows what types of traffic will be blocked in the future since they will already have the filtering software in place.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Sir Sham Cad
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      Re: filtering software in place

      They already have this in place as you can restrict access to, for instance, porn, over the data network until you opt in as an adult. That's been around for years.

      What's new is the targeting of adverts rather than fairly non controversial stuff like adult content.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Roland6 Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: filtering software in place

        They already have this in place as you can restrict access to ...

        Shame Windows Update, Windows Store et al. aren't on the list...

        0 0 Reply
    2. Wibble
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      Mushroom

      Block bootstap bloat

      These endless bloated bootstrap websites that run huge JavaScript libraries and monster images which aren't optimised would be a start. Whatever happened to svelte programming?

      6 1 Reply
      1. joeW
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        Re: Block bootstap bloat

        Management want "a responsative webby site" so it will look good on whatever i-shiney-thing is flavour of the month around the boardroom table. Sure boss, can do you one using all custom in-house css and raw javascript. It will be small, fast, and do *exactly* what you want, and it will take three weeks (not including testing). Or we can lob a big ol' ball of bootstrap and jQuery at it, get it polished off by lunchtime tomorrow, and save my energy for doing nice svelte stuff on my own weekend projects.

        Tough call alright.

        1 0 Reply
      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Block bootstap bloat

        Just stop 'reading' the Dailymail.co.uk Rag! (we all know that's what your hinting at)

        I say 'reading' in the loosest sense of the word.

        0 4 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

    I'm puzzled by this statement. Either it's the usual, auto-generated fluff with no sense whatsoever, or they want... what? charge advertisers to pass their blocking? Surely they wouldn't mean the "revolutionise" as "kill", would they? For all their posturing about customers coming first, etc, they're a business, and business is about MORE!!!! PROFIT!!!!

    1 1 Reply
    1. Sir Sham Cad
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      Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

      Move will "monetise" mobile advertising. Yep, I reckon you've got that right, AC.

      2 1 Reply
    2. thesykes
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      Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

      It could, if the advertisers would follow a few simple rules, then most people would probably stop blocking adverts.

      No animation or video.

      No sound.

      No pop ups.

      Keep it simple, a static image, some text and a hyperlink to a product page, no tracking.

      Do that, I won't block you.

      Will it happen? Probably not, the advertisers will just try and find ever more annoying methods to irritate people, thinking they are really providing a useful service.

      32 1 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

        No "new mail icon" at the bottom of mobile apps.

        7 0 Reply
      2. Dr. Mouse
        Reply Icon

        Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

        "Keep it simple, a static image, some text and a hyperlink to a product page, no tracking."

        I agree, I do not block such ads either.

        The Register has incurred my wrath on this with their "change the whole page" ads. You know, the ones which change the colours and put adverts in the "wasted" side areas, exactly the area I tend to click to bring focus back to a web page or to allow me to scroll. Before that started happening, I had this site whitelisted, and now I don't even know if they still use them.

        If adverts are non-intrusive to how you use the site, preferably text only or non-invasive images, and clearly labelled as adverts, people don't mind. When they are shoved in your face or interfere with the content you are there to see, they start looking for ways to block.

        25 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

          Same here - I removed El Reg from my whitelist when they started doing that.

          6 0 Reply
          1. Known Hero
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            Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

            Same here - I removed El Reg from my whitelist when they started doing that.

            I mean Ditto

            0 0 Reply
        2. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

          This: "If adverts are non-intrusive to how you use the site, preferably text only or non-invasive images, and clearly labelled as adverts, people don't mind"

          Yes, SOME people do mind and as i include myself in that fraction, i fully intend to block all adverts irrespective to either where they are on the page or how "annoying" they are.

          I dont want adverts on any device i use.

          3 8 Reply
          1. Freddie
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            Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

            @cornz1: Doesn't this remove the only common revenue stream for the websites you use? Would you pay for an ad free version? Personally, I'd like to know how much they'd have to charge (for an ad free version) to break even as if it isn't too high I'd really value this (and it would encourage me to use the site I'd paid for, etc.).

            3 0 Reply
            1. GavinC
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              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              Ad revenue per user is normally tiny - for a website I run it's around 0.5p per visit. So assuming someone visiting daily, then that works out at about around 9p per visitor, per month. I'm not sure how this compares to other sites, something like El Reg can probably command a much higher advertising fee than I can, but you will still be talking about around 50p per visitor per month.

              But bear in mind that most people just wont pay at all, so even if you introduced a fee as low as 10p a month, you'd still be looking at a huge drop off in traffic, so you would need to counter this by increasing the price proportionately. Also bear in mind the extra costs and complexity of giving everyone user accounts, managing those, handling payments etc etc, and you can soon see why the vast majority of sites prefer to use the advertising business model.

              2 0 Reply
              1. Dr. Mouse
                Reply Icon

                Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

                There is one site I use, F1Fanatic, which offers an ad free option. It costs £1/month and I'm happy to pay. Indeed, I'd be happy to pay the same for El Reg. It's a small price to pay to support a site I regularly visit without putting up with irritating adverts!

                Although much more than that and I'd probably balk...

                0 0 Reply
              2. Roland6 Silver badge
                Reply Icon

                Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

                Ad revenue per user is normally tiny - for a website I run it's around 0.5p per visit.

                - GavinC

                For many of the smaller (ie. hobbist, SoHo business) websites I've advised on, we've come to the conclusion that only carrying carefully selected merchant referrals eg. related retail outlets and books etc. on Amazon is more remunerative than supporting ad's, even though they all make use of Google Adwords to encourage traffic. Even so the best is only generating sufficient to cover their domain and hosting fee's (hence why we took a serious look at the value of running ad's). So my experience seems to match yours.

                However, all those 0.5p's do add up, particularly if you are among the top websites (see https://www.similarweb.com/country/united_kingdom for the top 50 in many countries).

                As for the advertising business model, I've no problem with the model as it applies to 'my' websites: I pay an ad network to advertise my business, likewise, if I desire it, I can sell space on my website to the ad networks. The problems arise in the ad delivery network.

                With print media, the ad networks paid the publishers for the space used, included in the fee was a contribution to the physical production and distribution of the publication, including a commission to the newsagent. So I the customer can walk into my local supermarket and pick up a 'free' paper containing adverts where everyone in the delivery chain has received a commission. Currently, it is this part of the digital ad model that is broken.

                Hence this is why I support Three, because currently there is no obvious benefit to them in distributing a high volume of ad's with respect to content their users are wanting to access. Additionally, the current situation distorts the market in that there is no price difference (to the ad network) between an ad delivered over the mobile network and the fixed line network, even though the mobile network is more capacity constrained and costly to maintain...

                0 0 Reply
            2. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              @Freddie.

              I would be quite happy for virgin, BT, Talk Talk, et al to bang an extra 10'er a month on my bill for totally advert free viewing. The sites can offer the choice to the user as to whether they want the ads or not. My ISP can run the blocking software dependent on the cookie I set when I visit the site.

              THEY can sort it out as to who gets the £. But that seems to me to be a reasonable solution.

              0 0 Reply
          2. GavinC
            Reply Icon

            Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

            > I dont want adverts on any device i use.

            Then be prepared to get the credit card out and pay a membership fee for every site you use. Websites cost money to run, its only fair those running the sites get paid for their efforts. The only way of doing this is either advertising or memberships.

            What's so bad about a few graphic / text ads?

            browsing the web is a privilege not a right. Everyone wants everything for nothing these days!

            4 5 Reply
            1. fung0
              Reply Icon

              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              GavinC: "Then be prepared to get the credit card out and pay a membership fee for every site you use."

              Credit card at the ready! To paraphrase: "What's so bad about... actually paying for what you want?" Seriously: you don't walk into a store and look at brainwashing tapes to get a discount on a pair of shoes.

              Have you looked at what Flattr and Flattr Plus are doing? You allocate a fixed sum per month, as little or as much as you like. At the end of the month, the money gets divided among the sites you use most (provided they also subscribe to Flattr). Today, regular visitors generate on the order of 1 Euro per month in ad revenue for their favorite sites. So even a 10 Euro monthly budget could be enough to eliminate all advertising forever. (There's no reason other providers couldn't offer competing monetization schemes.)

              Would I pay that much to restore the direct connection between content creators and users, and take deceitful, money-grubbing, intrusive, entitled advertisers entirely out of the loop? In a nanosecond, I would.

              8 0 Reply
              1. GavinC
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                Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

                No, I've never heard of Flattr, but it is something I will be looking in to. Thanks.

                0 0 Reply
            2. Dwarf
              Reply Icon

              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              @GavinC

              "Browsing the web is a privilege not a right."

              Nope, you are completely wrong here.Its like gas and water, its part of how we live today, Even the Government seem to agree that we need it - presumably to reduce their costs and allow them to track us ??

              Marketing is simple. I don't let people come up to my door and try and sell me their stuff. I don't let them do it on the phone, I won't let them do it on the TV (I don't watch TV) and I won't let them do it on the Internet. If there are those moving /flashing /adverts at the stations with the rumored face tracking, I deliberately look away.

              There is sort of a theme here - my eyeballs, my decisions on what I buy and when.

              0 4 Reply
              1. Triggerfish
                Reply Icon

                Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising @Dwarf

                Although I somewhat agree with what you say, what's your opinion on sites you browse for free? Do you think it's a fair model that they have to pay to maintain it for you? Whats the solution if there's no revenue for the site owner to keep their site going?

                0 0 Reply
            3. anonymous boring coward Silver badge
              Reply Icon

              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              Many ads bog down the CPU and heat up the PC, not to mention drain batteries.

              I haven't given permission for any of that to happen.

              Not to mention the security implications.

              I really don't care if my favourite websites turn into hobby projects. I never found fault in the less glossy stuff in the early days of the web.

              There is no RIGHT to earn a living from website maintenance.

              Regarding not having a right to the Internet: I pay a handsome penny every month for that privilege to my service provider. I blood well have a right to access the Internet.

              Look, it's so simple: make ads static and non intrusive and the whole problem is gone.

              Screw all animation BS.

              0 0 Reply
            4. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

              I didn't say I want something for nothing, I said I didn't want adverts.

              0 0 Reply
        3. Triggerfish
          Reply Icon

          Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

          The Register has incurred my wrath on this with their "change the whole page" ads. You know, the ones which change the colours and put adverts in the "wasted" side areas, exactly the area I tend to click to bring focus back to a web page or to allow me to scroll. Before that started happening, I had this site whitelisted, and now I don't even know if they still use them.

          It seems almost perverse the type of ads they choose considering the clientele.

          2 0 Reply
      3. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

        Good old WAP browsing...

        1 0 Reply
        1. Silly_Monkey
          Reply Icon

          Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

          Yay. Or bring back the Gopher.

          0 0 Reply
      4. Mark 85
        Reply Icon

        @thesykes -- Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

        That could (in some fantasy universe) work. Given the state of affairs in this one.. it won't. It will take a concerted effort by users and content providers to get the advertisers to clean up their act. If the content providers get on board and push back, it will. Right now, they take the money and look the other way at what's being served.. ads, malvertising, etc.

        The ad folks are driving the content providers and until the content providers say "we won't accept your ads until...." the situation will never change.

        0 0 Reply
    3. NotBob
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

      Surely they wouldn't mean the "revolutionise" as "kill", would they?

      Few revolutions in society are without bloodshed...

      0 0 Reply
  4. caffeine addict

    As a Three customer, can I opt out of this? Or define what type of ads I want to block?

    2 1 Reply
    1. Sir Sham Cad
      Reply Icon

      Re: can I opt out of this?

      At the moment you need to opt-in to the 24 hour trial. After that, I suspect you'd need to opt out in a manner that will be very awkward to find/do since the benefits to Three as a carrier are obvious.

      I guess it depends how well the trial goes.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: can I opt out of this?

        By opting into the trial you are also agreeing to be telephoned by a Three droid at some point afterwards to discuss your experiences.

        0 0 Reply
    2. thesykes
      Reply Icon

      can I opt out of this?

      Just received the email from Three, it's opt in for the trial and works on network served stuff and not on wifi connections.

      0 0 Reply
    3. Roland6 Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: As a Three customer

      Three have a microsite where you can sign up to the trial: https://www.threemicrosites.co.uk/adtrial

      There isn't an article as yet on http://blog.three.co.uk/ about this. However, my assumption and interpretation of the wording used, is that this trial only applies to internet browsing on Three handsets (APN: three.co.uk). Devices tethered to handsets (via mobile hotspot) and those that use the mobile broadband service (APN: 3internet), are not included in the trial.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Valeyard

    publishers

    if publishers aren't going to get any revenue for mobiles why would they put any effort into making a mobile site at all now?

    (depending i suppose on how much people connect to wireless)

    0 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: publishers

      People were putting effort into making mobile sites currently?

      7 0 Reply
    2. m0rt
      Reply Icon

      Re: publishers

      I, personally, would be happy if they didn't. I find most mobile sites incredibly frustrating and usually click on 'Request Desktop Site'

      12 0 Reply
      1. Adam 52 Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: publishers

        m.theregister.co.uk is much, much better than the desktop version. And far fewer ads.

        0 0 Reply
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: publishers

      If this take off in a big way, it will force publishers to take direct responsibility for hosting what appears on their websites instead of simply acting as a front door for malware laden ad brokers.

      0 0 Reply

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