Google Advises Gmail Users to Axe Ad-block
According to a post made Monday on the Google Gmail Help Center, Google is advising customers who use Gmail with Firefox to turn of the popular AdBlock extension. This week Google introduces a new feature to Gmail that combines Gmail with their Google Talk instant messager service. Those Gmail users lucky enough to test the new feature are advised that using AdBlock with it may cause Firefox to crash. Google also says that their engineers are working to fix the problem.
AdBlock is an add-on to the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser that lets users filter out content they don’t want to see. AdBlock works by filtering out source domains, and is usually used to remove ads (Like Google’s AdSense). AdBlock is the 4th most popular Firefox extension, according to Mozilla’s Firefox extension web site, and has been downloaded more than 4.9 million times.
Despite AdBlock’s AsSense-filtering abilities, the problem appears to be purely technical, and the Gmail help center advises customers wishing to use IM-enhanced Gmail with AdBlock to “contact AdBlock’s support team for help customizing your settings so you can still access your Gmail account after re-enabling the extension.”
Reader Comments.
Has anyone measured the impact of the Firefox blocker on online ad metrics?
I have not personally researched the Firefox extension on a technical level to determine if it prevents the ad call in the first place (no impression) which basically makes this a publisher problem to me.
If, on the other hand, it blocks a reported ad impression, then we have another fudge factor in why a client’s ad may show reduced interaction.
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