PinkNews founder warns ad blockers could kill off niche sites

Software like AdBlock could kill off the niche publications, Benjamin Cohen warns

Software that blocks internet adverts is threatening to kill off the niche publications of the future, the founder of the PinkNews website warned today.

Benjamin Cohen told the Evening Standard his campaigning website for LGBT news would never have got off the ground if ad blockers had existed when it launched a decade ago.

“If people adopt ad blockers en masse, independent journalism will be killed,” he said. “The freedom of the press is going to be dramatically affected by it.”

Mr Cohen, 33, is soon to meet digital minister Ed Vaizey. He plans to urge the Government to curb the sale of ad blockers, arguing that they not only threaten revenues, but can also be used by big players to dominate the market.

Companies such as Apple make money by selling ad blocker apps, while at the same time selling adverts that the blockers cannot stop.

“All the things we have done over the past 10 years have only been possible because of the advertising on the site,” said Mr Cohen, whose Out4Marriage campaign is widely credited with helping to usher in the equal marriage act in 2013.

“Thanks to our ads we have never been reliant on donors or on political agendas for our campaigns, we have been able to do whatever we wanted to do.”

PinkNews celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, having grown from an “accidental” start-up with a single employee in 2005 to a business with global ambitions and a separate United States edition.

Last month it had 10.5 million page views, and is aiming for 100 million within three years.

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