TL;DR version:
From June to August, the number of active users of the AdGuard Ad Blocker extension for Chrome dropped by about 8%. But in late August, the trend reversed. The temporary slump in user growth was offset by the increased demand in the second half of the year.
After a brief period of turbulence that lasted about a month, we saw the trend stabilize. And while the daily number of uninstalls was still higher than before YouTube’s crackdown, it remained consistently lower than the number of daily installs.
After media reports and YouTube’s own statements implied that ad blockers were doomed, and especially after more and more users started noticing that their ad blocking extensions were not working properly on YouTube, we did indeed see a spike in uninstalls. However, at the same time, the number of installs also increased significantly! It may well be that the way ad blockers’ woes were amplified in the media inadvertently boosted their popularity and helped them woo new users.
The takeaway from all of this is that ad blockers — first and foremost, ad-blocking extensions — were rocked by YouTube’s onslaught, but survived. And, moreover, the interest has rebounded, as is evidenced by the growth in the number of active users.
Yeah, malvertising has been a thing for over a decade, maybe closer to two. And it is something hosts at every level have had to deal with, including NYT and BBC.
I’d have no issue allowing ads if company’s properly vetted what was being advertised and did so through their own host/domain, because then you’d know that there was a human between you and whomever they’re selling space to. And I’ve seen a few small blogs do this sort of thing when I’ve been deep down a rabbit hole trying to solve a problem, and I respect the hell out of them for being willing to do the legwork to own what you serve. But most places want to do ad sales at such volume that its just not ‘economically feasible’ (ie, it eats away at the money they’re getting from the ads) to do so.