Adblock Plus said that its registration for the upcoming IAB Leadership Summit has been canceled and as a result, it's getting its registration fee refunded.
The company, which was founded in 2006 by Wladimir Palant, received the information about the cancellation in an email message. However, details that explain the cancellation are not mentioned.
"We coach many IAB members about our Acceptable Ads guidelines for reasonable, nonintrusive ads, and we have spoken on some IAB panel discussions (especially in the UK)," said Adblock Plus in a blog post. "Unfortunately, the top brass at the US IAB don't want us coming to their Leadership Summit next week in Palm Desert, California."
The cancellation made on the company's registration to the event came as a shock considering the fact that Adblock Plus has attended the same event last year.
The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Leadership Meeting is an annual event that aims to provide an avenue for top leaders in the media and marketing industry to gather and exchange ideas through debates, discussion, networking and insight sharing.
"Digital is now a $50 billion dollar industry," said IAB. "Along with our enormous expansion are immense shifts in the media and marketing landscape.
This year's event, which has a theme that says "Next $50 Billion," will take place in Palm Desert, California, on Jan. 24 to 26.
According to Adblock Plus, they contacted Randall Rothenberg, IAB's CEO, and asked him directly to alter the company's decision on the cancellation.
While the reason for the cancellation is not explicitly indicated, there are certain realities surrounding the relation between the two sides that can otherwise help in giving light to the matter.
IAB supports companies that earn revenues from online advertising. Adblock Plus is created to block online advertising, although it does have a policy for acceptable ads.
"Without trust between marketers, publishers, consumers, and the multitude of parties in between, the growth of our industry - and by extension all of the monumental innovations our industry supports - is indefinitely debilitated," said IAB.
IAB had acknowledged in the past that adblocking is a really big issue for the industry. Last year, the company's annual meeting even had a lengthy discussion on the topic of adblocking. Certainly, holding a dialogue between ad makers and ad blockers can be helpful indeed in finding for a solution.
"The over 400,000 downloads of Adblock Plus are not going to go away," said Adblock Plus. "Dis-allowing Adblock Plus from attending your event solves nothing. We will proceed to work with others to build a sustainable monetization model for the Internet."
