移動運營商欲封禁在線廣告

Several mobile operators plan to block advertising on their networks, setting the stage for a battle with digital media companies such as Google, AOL and Yahoo.

多家移動運營商計劃在其網絡上封殺廣告，此舉或引發它們與谷歌(Google)、美國在線(AOL)和雅虎(Yahoo)等數字媒體公司之間的大戰。

One European wireless carrier told the Financial Times that it has installed blocking software in its data centres and planned to turn it on before the end of 2015.

一家歐洲無線運營商向英國《金融時報》表示，該公司已在其數據中心安裝封禁軟件，並計劃在2015年底以前開啓該軟件的功能。

The software prevents most types of advertising from loading in web pages and apps, though it does not interfere with “in-feed” ads of the kind used by Facebook and Twitter.

這種軟件會阻止網頁和應用載入多數類型的廣告。不過，該軟件不會干涉Facebook和Twitter所用的那種“in-feed”廣告（指直接插入使用者信息流中的一類廣告——譯者注）。

The blocking technology was developed by Shine, an Israeli start-up whose shareholders include Horizon Ventures, the investment fund of Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest person.

這種封禁技術由以色列初創企業Shine公司開發。亞洲富豪李嘉誠創辦的投資基金Horizon Ventures也是該公司股東之一。

Mr Li also controls Hutchison Whampoa, one of the world’s largest telecoms groups.“Tens of millions of mobile subscribers around the world will be opting in to ad blocking by the end of the year,” said Roi Carthy, chief marketing officer of Shine. “If this scales, it could have a devastating impact on the online advertising industry.”

Shine首席營銷官魯瓦•卡爾蒂(Roi Carthy)表示：“到今年底以前，全球數以千萬計的移動用戶將通過自主選擇的方式，加入屏蔽廣告的行列。如果達到這樣的規模，這可能會對在線廣告業產生毀滅性影響。”

Verizon, the largest US telecoms group, this week paid $4.4bn to buy AOL, seeking to gain a foothold in the rapidly growing market for advertising on mobile devices.

Shine表示，該公司正與多家運營商合作，其中包括一家擁有至少4000萬用戶的運營商。不過，該公司拒絕透露這些運營商的名字。

Marketers will spend almost $69bn this year on mobile ads — more than triple the sum they spent two years ago — according to research group eMarketer.

一位歐洲運營商主管確認，該公司及其他幾家同類公司正計劃從今年開始封禁廣告。