Ex-Google exec seeks to stamp out ad-blocker software

You WILL view those adverts

An ex-Google executive has launched a startup company that will attempt to unravel the power of ad-blocking software.

Ben Barokas, who is former general manager of marketplace development for Google, officially launched Sourcepoint yesterday, with $10m funding from investors in his company's coffers.

This may be small change for some, as Google alone has lost up to $6.6bn in revenue due to the use of ad-blockers in only the last year.

Many web browsers now feature native ad-blocking technology, or can easily be equipped with plugins to achieve the same effect.

"The publishers we're working with recognise they're facing an existential crisis," said Barokas, promising technology that will offer "greater flexibility" in how advertising content producers can make money from visitors to their websites.

Choices on the menu at launch include a site's entire contents being hidden unless adverts are loaded - a very direct approach which basically forces a user to deactivate an ad-blocker momentarily on every load.

"While users have the legal right to strip out the advertising from web pages, publishers also have the right to prevent users from accessing their content if they modify the web page," said Barokas.

Another service Barokas offers is a simple option to let users pay to dispense with the advertising completely.

Before Google, Barokas also held a similarly senior, and relevant, role at AOL, as well as founding online ad sales firm Admeld, which was sold to Google in 2011, and is regarded as one of the key players in the world of internet advertising.

He says 22 publishers are already on his books, but will not yet name who they are.

A recent study by Adobe suggested that five per cent of internet users now employ ad-blocking software as standard, so Sourcepoint clearly has its work cut out for it.

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