
Ask HN: Are ad-blockers accounted for in # of "impressions"? - featherverse
I have a small business and I sometimes advertise my business on social media. The cost of these ads is often based on &quot;impressions&quot; rather than click. &quot;Impressions&quot; means how many people saw the ad.<p>My question is, how does that work if people are using ad-blockers? If someone doesn&#x27;t see the ad because they&#x27;ve blocked it, does that still count as an &quot;Impression&quot;? Do social media websites have a way to guarantee that an ad was actually seen rather than blocked?<p>I haven&#x27;t seen anyone ask this question anywhere yet, and I think it&#x27;s an important question with regards to the future of advertising on the internet. I also want to know if I&#x27;m wasting money.
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mattkrea
I would assume that you would not get an impression if your ad content was
never loaded which most ad blockers would prevent (AFAIK)

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featherverse
One obvious exception to this is the blocker 'Ad Nauseum', which loads and
clicks the ad in order to screw up tracking data.

It's not the most popular blocker, but it seems to me that the risk of false
"impressions" exists.

I should ask the social media platforms what their position on this subject is
and write a blog with my findings.

UPDATE: I've done that.

