BI Intelligence

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Ad blocking poses a major threat to digital media companies that depend on advertising for revenue. If ad blocking on mobile reaches desktop levels, US digital media companies could lose out on as much as $9.7 billion across digital ad formats next year, according to BI Intelligence estimates based on current usage rates.

Ad-block usage rates vary greatly depending on content type and audience demographics. Publishers whose audience skews toward young males, such as video game sites, tend to see much higher ad-block usage compared with general news sites.

Ad blocking may become even more common with the release of Apple's widely used desktop and mobile operating systems later this year. The operating systems will feature a framework that makes it significantly easier for developers to create ad-blocking software, particularly on mobile.

Ad blockers typically use one of two methods to prevent ads from loading. In most cases, ad blockers prevent the loading of digital ads that are served by a list of known ad servers. Blocked ads typically include display, video, social, and search ad units that appear in web browsers.