Opera Software started by adding a free VPN feature to its browser to attract a percentage of tech-savvy users who know the importance of this. It was a gesture appreciated by quite a lot of people and this might have even given Opera’s browser market share a tiny boost. A few days ago, a new feature was announced, the latest version of Opera browser now includes an ad-blocking feature.
I probably wouldn’t have cared if it was just the desktop browser, but this new feature was implemented on Opera Mini browser for Android as well. That is where the problem is exactly.
For regular users, this is good news. At least, concerned users will no longer be bothered with display ads on their mobile browser, and web pages become streamlined. Main content become more readable and, of course, the peace of mind you get when there are no distractions makes ad-blocking a must-have feature for a number of internet users.
This is why a whopping 28% of internet users in the US have this feature enabled in their browsers. As good as this new Opera Mini feature looks, a lot of web publisher in countries in Nigeria will be adversely affected.
What this means for Nigerian web publishers
Nigeria has most of its internet users on mobile and that’s a fact. Even though Nigeria is the 7th country in the world with the highest numbers on internet users, a greater percentage of Nigerians only access the internet through their smartphones. Opera Mini is a very popular browser and it presently takes 72% of the mobile browsers marketshare.
Basically 7 out of 10 Nigerians use Opera Mini as the default browsers on their phones. Publishers who monetize their mobile content through display ads will be terribly hit. Huge revenue drop may be experienced as more and more people upgrade to the latest version of Opera Mini.
Even worse, Opera asks you to enable the ad-blocking feature the moment you upgrade to the latest version and launch the app. When 7 out of 10 people visiting a website have already block ads from displaying, the result can be really devastating.
Is there a way forward?
Opera Software goes all out on display ads. AdBlock Plus is the most popular ad-blocking extension for Firefox and Google Chrome but they had to make some adjustments a few years ago. Ads by Google can be whitelisted and it was reported that Google paid the developers some amount to enable this. Certain ads are classified as unobtrusive and are shown.
For now, unless Opera makes some adjustments, nothing can be done and publishers may need to prepare for the incoming revenue crumble.