Patricio Robles says, “While the debate around ad blocking continues, Opera has decided to build a native ad blocker that ships with its browser.

The company announced that it’s “the first major browser vendor to integrate an ad-blocking feature” and the reason won’t come as a surprise.

It looked at the stats, which show that a growing number of consumers want ad blockers to protect them from bloated web pages, poor browsing experiences and unwanted tracking.

With ad blocking built in to its browser at the web engine level, Opera says it can provide “unmatched speed” versus ad blocking extensions that consumers must install in other browsers.

Even though Opera’s market share ranges from around 2% to 5% depending on who you ask, making it the fifth or sixth most popular browser, the fact that the company made the decision to add a native ad blocker has sparked significant conversation”.

Opera introduces native ad blocking: what advertisers & publishers need to know

‘Econsultancy’ Blog