Ad blocker promises to penetrate ads in apps
Been Choice collects data from users and sells it back to advertisers.
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See also: Apple culls ad blockers
Advertisements in smartphone apps have so far managed to evade the clutches of ad blockers, much to the delight of advertisers, but one ad blocker is promising to defeat this last line of defence.
Been Choice has been launched on the Apple store with a curious business model.
The app has two settings: “block,” where ads and third-party trackers are eliminated, or “earn,” where ads are allowed through and users accumulate points, which they can exchange for rewards.
Users’ data will also be sent to Been Choice to be crunched and then on-sold to advertisers.
The app creators says it works both in apps and Safari by using a virtual private network (VPN) to filter ad traffic. This means Facebook’s sponsored ads will not be displayed – and nor will ads in Apple’s own Apple News.
Three weeks ago, Apple released an update allowing ad blocking apps to piggyback on its Safari Web Browser, thrusting the topic into the mainstream.
However, two years ago Google spiked the Adblock Plus app that did the same thing from the Google Play store so it remains to be seen if Apple will allow Been Choice to remain on its platform.
The ad blockers business model have long been criticised.
Adblock Plus, for example, says it’s working with companies to let certain “acceptable ads” through its filters and is reportedly accepting payments from 70 companies, including Google, Microsoft and Taboola. (Users can disable this feature if they want but it is enabled by default.)
Snakk Media chief executive Mark Ryan equates this to a “hostage situation,” where ad blocking companies need to sustain a revenue model by charging advertisers.
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Campbell Gibson
Fri, 09 Oct 2015
Fri, 09 Oct 2015
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Ad blocker promises to penetrate ads in apps
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