Bitcoin may be the solution to ad blocking
After learning from recent PageFair statistics that digital publishers lost an estimated $22bn in revenue in 2015 due to 198m users employing ad blocking software, experts have this week suggested that Bitcoin technology could represent the future solution to this problematic phenomenon. As Samsung and Three get ready to permit ad blocking, David Schatsky, Senior Manager of Emerging Technology and Business Trends at Deloitte, proposes a Bitcoin micropayments system that allows consumers to pay a nominal fee to view ad-free content. The main advantages of this idea would be low transaction costs, the ability to maintain accurate, transparent and secure record-keeping via the distributed ledger system, and the creation of more choice for content consumers.



Bitcoin and bitcoin technology could be the solution for media sites who've witnessed revenue falling due to the rise of ad-blocking software, according to one industry expert. Digital publishers lost an estimated $22 billion in revenue in 2015 due to ad-blocking technology with around 198 million global users using the software, according to PageFair, which provides solutions to counter ad blocking.

Karen Bleier | AFP | Getty Images

The problem for publishers is likely to get worse as more and more companies, such as Samsung and Three, announce plans to let users block online advertisements.

"Several companies have jumped on the ad-blocking bandwagon," said Daniel Knapp, director of analysis at IHS Technology, to CNBC in an email.

"Ad blocking is an expression of massive consumer dissatisfaction with the way the ad industry works."

One alternative to funding content besides ads would be a system of micropayments, where users pay a small fee for each page they view, according to David Schatsky, senior manager of emerging technology and business trends at Deloitte.

"You could have an option to not view advertising and instead pay a couple of pennies per page as you go," he told CNBC in a phone interview.

He explained that micropayments - facilitated by bitcoin – could be given to a publisher for the time a user spends on their site.