European carrier starting to block ads at network level in UK and Italy

LONDON -- Mobile company Three is becoming the first European carrier to introduce ad blocking at a network level, giving digital advertisers more headaches.

Three will start the ad blocking on its UK and Italian carriers, in a deal announced Friday with Israeli company Shine.

Digital publishers and Internet companies have tried different tactics to fight ad blockers as apps become more readily available to consumers, but this deal goes beyond apps and introduces ad blocking at a carrier level. 

Three was light on details, but said it will rapidly roll out the technology to their other Three Group operators. The company said the goal wasn't to eliminate mobile advertising, but to get rid of certain types of ads.

"Irrelevant and excessive mobile ads annoy customers and affect their overall network experience. We don't believe customers should have to pay for data usage driven by mobile ads. The industry has to work together to give customers mobile ads they want and benefit from," Chief Marketing Officer Tom Malleschitz says in the statement.

"Shine now has boots on the ground in Europe."

Shine claims the deal is a victory for consumers. "Shine now has boots on the ground in Europe," it says in a statement.

"Three is Shine’s European beachhead — expect more European carriers to roll out Shine this year," it said.

The company's first deal at a carrier level was with Digicel in the Caribbean, reaching all of its 14 million subscribers. 

The general consensus in the digital advertising industry is that ad blocking hinders publishers' ability to provide content for free.

Publishers and Internet companies have been trying tactics like locking people out or offering readers the chance to pay instead of seeing ads to fight the rise of ad blockers.

In a blog post for industry body Internet Advertising Bureau, Dave Reed says producing content is expensive and funded by advertising.

"Ad blockers disrupt this value exchange, leaving publishers footing the bill for consumer content without getting anything in return, meaning the rise of ad blocking poses a real threat to the free web as we know it," he says.

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