Nearly 200 million people use tools that block ads on sites around the world, according to a report published by PageFair and Adobe. The number of people using ad blocking tools has increased by 41 % in comparison to 2014 and amounts to 6% of the global internet population.

The use of Ad blocking tools is rising, and it’s no surprise why. The internet users are annoyed with ad-networks that track users’ activity across the Internet and there are many sites littered with dumb ads. Ad blocking tools help users recover their privacy and enhance the browsing experience without clutter ads.

Although 6% may seem a small number, yet the number represents a considerable drop in the profits of websites. It is estimated that in 2015 the use of Ad blocking tools will lead to approximately $21.8 billion of lost advertising revenue. Also, according to a study, the loss may exceed $41 billion in 2016. Adobe has teamed up with PageFair, an Ireland based start-up to assess the current use of ad-blocking software.

Sean Blanchfield, Founder of PageFair, said:

“It is tragic that ad block users are inadvertently inflicting multi-billion dollar losses on the very websites they most enjoy. The ad blocking tools are an imminent threat to the business model that has supported the open web in the last 20 years.”

The practice of blocking ads is gaining popularity even among users on mobile devices. Android users are able to block ads, thanks to the AdBlock extension on Firefox for mobile users or the AdBlock Plus app.

However, the use of ad blocking tools in iOS could affect more after the launch of iOS 9 with the Safari Content Blockers feature. According to the Adobe and PageFair report, most users use the Google Chrome browser to block ads. It is ironic if we consider the Google’s major income source, which is web based ads.