We present the design and the pilot results of a large-scale field experiment on the economic impact of ad-blocking and anti-tracking technologies on consumers’ behavior and economic outcomes. The online advertising industry has often heralded the economic benefits of (targeted) online advertising. Its claims are juxtaposed by the privacy concerns associated with the vast number of ad-tech companies tracking and analyzing consumers’ online behavior – often without consumers’ awareness. We analyze the economic impact of ad-blocking and anti-tracking technologies, focusing on consumers’ online behaviors (such as browsing and shopping), and their ultimate purchasing outcomes (as measured by amounts of money spent online, product prices paid, time spent on product searching, and purchase satisfaction). In this paper, we describe the rationale and motivations behind our study; the experimental design and the instrumentation infrastructure we developed for the experiments; the results of three pilots of the study; and the plans for the complete data collection.
See below for working paper, and video of presentation at the Economics of Digital Services EODS Economics of Digital Services Inaugural Research Symposium.