Amazon Losing $5.5 Million A Year In France Because Of Ad Blocking

According to numbers from from Paris based ad analytics tool AdBack, Amazon.fr could be losing up to $5.5 million a year in the country thanks to ad blockers. The company recently released a list of the nation’s top sites most affected by ad blocking software (a list that was actually quite varied), and Amazon topped the list as the biggest loser.

Both local outfits like classifieds site Leboncoin.fr (who lost $3.9 million) and global platforms like YouTube and Yahoo($3.6 million and $3.3 million respectively) made the list, along with sites like Twitch (at $2.6 million), video game news site jeuxvideo.com, listicle, and BuzzFil.net, a viral video compilation site.

Despite the ad blocking debate often being focused most on the extent to which traditional media sites are suffering, AdBack finds the affected newspaper sites ranking just ninth (Le Figaro) and 12th (Le Monde), respectively, with estimated annual losses of between $1.0 million and $1.4 million.

France’s mobile ad blocking percentage is right in line with the world average though (as is America’s), with about 13% of adults having some sort of ad blocker on their smart phone. But compared to the Asian average of over 30%, it’s fairly modest. Of course, 28% of people surveyed said they plan to add some sort of ad blocking software in the next year, so that number could rise sharply soon.

Naturally, the highest use of ad blocking software belonged to those in the millennial generation. And when you consider that’s the generation doing the biggest percentage of their shopping online, it makes sense that there is – concern over the lost revenue. For anyone who makes money with their own blog, ad blockers are a constant battle.

To make up for a little bit of that lost revenue, AdBack actually offers a tool designed to study a website’s ad blocking visitors and create a customize message for them to see, along with alternatives like surveys, videos and tutorials instead.