P&G, Unilever and others look for an answer to ad blocking

The digital advertising world is getting its act together thanks to the ad-blocking epidemic, which is hurting revenues across the industry.

The Coalition for Better Ads was announced today in Cologne, Germany, where the Dmexco conference has been taking place this week. The coalition's founding members include Google, Facebook, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, the 4As, the Association of National Advertisers, the World Federation of Advertisers, The Washington Post, GroupM and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The consortium aims to monitor the quality of online advertising using technology currently being developed at the IAB's Tech Lab. Digital ad campaigns will be scored on everything from creative to load time, and the coalition will come up with standards based on data gleaned from the system as well as from consumer feedback and input from marketers.

"It is essential that industry create standards to assure that consumers get safe, fast, secure delivery of the sites and services they love," said IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg.

The news comes on the heels of AdBlock Plus, an ad blocker, revealing its "Acceptable Ads" program, an ad exchange that will sell ads to get around the company's software.

But the founding of the Coalition for Better Ads is truly more of a reaction to this number: U.S. consumers will download ad blockers at a 34 percent higher rate than they did last year, according to eMarketer.

Link to the original article from Adweek can be found here.