At eyeo, we’ve always been convinced that the only way to fix a broken internet and create a sustainable online future is through catering to all stakeholders on the web. If not all parties feel there are viable solutions for them, then there is no functional value exchange. And if there is no functional value exchange, we run the risk of losing fair and wide-reaching accessibility for everyone—regardless of nationality or financial status—to quality content.
That’s why, in August of 2021, we were ecstatic to release our first ever dedicated advertiser solution, Trestle. It launched in the US, and due to its growing demand, we are now rolling it out in the EU. It’s all part of our vision to improve the value exchange between users, publishers and advertisers and to address the lack of viable solutions on the market.
So what is Trestle? And why start in the US?
Trestle is the only advertiser solution on the web that enables advertisers to reach ad-filtering users at scale. That means the 225 million (and growing) Acceptable Ads users across the world, making Trestle the biggest user-consented advertising platform on the free web. This allows advertisers to reach Acceptable Ads users who consent to nonintrusive and light advertising that adheres to the Acceptable Ads Standard.
We chose the US to unveil the product last year because of the large growth in the user base of ad-filtering online in the States. There is a strong sentiment stateside, as seen in the Ad-blocking usage report 2019 edition, in support of ad-filtering as a solution to sustainability on the web. In fact, 57 percent of polled online users in the US would rather filter ads than block them all, while 71 percent said they understood that publishers rely on advertising to keep their content free.
And we made the right decision, because the response has been great. So much so that it has altered our plans with Trestle in the EU. As Aditya Padhye, General Manager of Trestle at eyeo attests, “The plan was to launch Trestle in the EU in late 2022, but since we saw a lot of demand from European advertisers following our launch in the US, we didn’t see a need to wait. This way, we can begin exploring the opportunities presented within both regions, which is an exciting start especially for Trestle that’s only been on the market for 6 months now. We’re excited to see what’s next and we hope to expand our vision and continue to bridge the gap between advertisers and a hard-to-reach section of users that understand the need for a fair online value exchange.”
What this means for advertisers in the EU
There are currently over 65 million Acceptable Ads (ad-filtering) users within the EU. These users aren’t against all ads; they’re only against invasive ads that disregard their privacy, their choice or their user experience. In addition, these users are also digital-first, younger and tech-savvy, which makes them highly valuable for advertisers.
Although some advertisers already recognize the importance of the ad-filtering audience, many are either unaware they exist or are quick to rule them out as they might not “be worth the effort or money spent”. But such statements couldn’t be further from the truth: by viewing fewer ads daily, ad-filtering users are more likely to give an ad the attention and engagement it needs. Cleaner web pages that feature lesser ads have also been shown to create a positive effect on user attention.
Through bridging the gap between these users and advertisers, Trestle enables one of the most fruitful value exchanges for all parties on the web.
We are very glad to see Trestle arriving into the EU market. And look forward to sharing more Trestle news throughout the year.
For more about Trestle, please get in touch at trestle.net/contact