In December 2015, Forbes took an aggressive approach to its ad-blocking visitors. In this episode of Digiday Live, recorded last week at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Key Biscayne, Florida, Forbes Media CRO Mark Howard describes the four-stage process that Forbes undertook to better understand its ad-blocking readers, and ultimately reach its sales goals.
Through rigorous A/B testing of language on entry ads, social data gathering and communication-tweaking, Forbes has convinced close to 8 million readers to whitelist the site. Howard’s team found that when readers were given an “ad lite” option in exchange for whitelisting Forbes.com, they consumed more content in one session than a reader who had not whitelisted the site. Listen to Howard’s session above. To hear more about media is changing straight from the people making it happen, subscribe to Digiday Live on iTunes or Stitcher.
More in Media
Inside The Daily Mail’s creator-led content playbook
Inside the structure, strategy, and metrics of the Daily Mail’s creator-led content push.
Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, March 2026 edition
With no sign of search traffic returning, publishers are doubling down on subscriptions to build direct reader revenue — but it’s not easy.
People Inc.’s Jon Roberts on the AI licensing boom – and the revenue lag
People Inc’s Jon Roberts discusses the boom in AI content licensing marketplaces — and the revenue that could materialize for publishers.