Let’s be real: 2021 wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. If we’re going with water metaphors, it was more like a stormy ocean than a placid lake—ups and downs, swells and ebbs. There were times when we might have felt a little bit seasick.
But now, with the holidays upon us and the year in the rearview mirror, we can reflect on the ride we took throughout 2021.
Here at AAX, we think it’s important to end the year looking back even as we look forward, and to contemplate our past achievements even as we plan for the future.
In that spirit, here’s a roundup of some of the highlights from our year:
We Added To Our Team
The AAX team is a growing one, and one of our first additions this year was Euan Johnson, our Business Intelligence Manager.
We profiled Euan back in January, when he talked to us about the path that led him to Business Intelligence, the fascinating intricacy and possibility of mathematics, and whether there are strict limits to Business Intelligence or if it can stretch to encompass any number of exciting forms.
Check out our piece on Euan to learn more.
We Continued Studying Ad Blocking Users
You may have noticed that ad blocking users are an especially fascinating demographic—especially ad filterers, or the 95% of people who have ad blockers installed on their devices but consent to be served non-intrusive, respectful ads.
AAX continued our study of these educated, affluent, and highly-engaged users in our new study, “Why Block Ads? Behind User Reasons and Motivations.”
And we learned a lot. You’ll want to check out the entire study (available for free download) but some of the most salient points include:
• users concerns and fears surrounding privacy, battery life, and data allowance• how the motivation for ad blocking has changed since 2017
• whether men and woman have different motivations for ad blocking…and why that matters
• the impact of the generational divide—how Boomers, Zoomers, and everyone in-between, feel about ad blocking
We Made Some Changes—Because Language Matters
We listened and we learned, and we noted that certain outdated and problematic terms needed to be abandoned. AAX announced that we will be using the terms “blocklist” and “allowlist” instead of any words associated with color-related imagery.
We believe, furthermore, that using “blocklist” and “allowlist” will enhance the clarity of our communication.
After all: a blocklist blocks and an allowlist allows. What could be simpler than that?
We Isolated The Top Three Motivations For Ad Blocking
It’s a question that challenges everyone affiliated with the ad space: why do ad blocking users block ads in the first place? What is it about ads that makes people uncomfortable?
Thanks to data gleaned by the ever-helpful GlobalWebIndex, we were able to isolate the three most important and pressing issues for ad blocking users: the trio of attributes that make ads undesirable.
Check out our findings!And We Wished You A Happy New Year!
We at AAX hope you have a peaceful, stress-free end to 2021. You’ve earned it.
And, on the stroke of midnight on January 1, we look forward to making some noise, throwing some confetti, and ushering in a bright new 2022.
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