• by Felicia Greiff , April 15, 2016

The Interactive Advertising Bureau announced it will hold a summit focusing on strategies for creating better user experiences and combating ad blocking. 

To be held on June 6, the conference will cover topics including ad blocking within mobile; "putting creative and data on a diet" to combat latency issues; the IAB's DEAL initiative; and "opening the conversation with consumers."

Ad blockers -- which cost publishers something like $22 billion in 2015, according to a study from Adobe and PageFair -- are often seen as a symptom of a bad user experience. People use blockers, many in the industry say, because they are protecting their UX from slow-loading page times or distracting, irrelevant ads. Some industry members say the solution is better creative.

Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times, will deliver the conference keynote. Other speakers at the invite-only event include Jed Hartman, CRO, The Washington Post; Mark Howard, CRO, Forbes; David Morris, CRO, CBS Interactive; and Mike Smith, SVP-revenue platforms and operations, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, and SVP-advertising platforms, core audience, Hearst Corporation.

IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg stated that putting user experience first is "crucial in maintaining the open, ad-supported Web and its wealth of free news, information and entertainment offerings."