Yeah, I always wondered if adblockers actually _improved_ per ad engagement, as users of an adblocker are opting themselves out of advertisement (thereby removing themselves from "inventory"), and seem like they would be less likely overall to engage with ads, and thus the adblocker usage is reducing the number of non-engaging users.

Sure, overall "inventory" would go down, but I would expect for ads that actually make it to users, per-ad engagement/ROI (and thus "value") to go up.

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Unless ad networks are charging advertisers for ad units that aren't actually shown to anybody, which smells an awful lot like grift to me!

(effectively charging for hidden ad units to inflate numbers)

I've always wondered this.

To add a datapoint, I've used adblock forever, but in places where I do see ads I've never had the thought to click on them, just get past them as quickly as possible.

Other people in my family however have bought things through Instagram/Facebook ads, so there are at least SOME people buying things through ads. They also have never bothered to install adblock.

Conversion rates for ads are super small in my experience anyway so driving conversion up should(?) balance the price out the price of people using adblock who would not see anything, and would not click if they did.

What is your definition of engagement? clicking on it? buying a product after clicking on it? or recognizing the brand when you are buying a product weeks after seeing the ad?