Dark Traffic & Ad Blockers: A Coffee With Dustin Cha, Ad-Shield

by Dana Lee on 1st Jul 2026 in Video Interviews

In this episode of A Coffee With... Dustin Cha, co-founder & co-CEO of Ad-Shield, joins ExchangeWire's John Still, over an English Breakfast tea to discuss the measurement and monetisation of dark traffic.

Dark traffic is web traffic missed by most ad tech due to network-level settings and advanced ad blockers. Next-gen ad blockers block not only ads, but also trackers and measurement tags, preventing monetisation and obscuring analytics. Ad-Shield helps publishers address dark traffic, recovering incremental revenue from this lost audience.

Dustin highlights that many end-users do not actively block ads, but accept a reasonable value exchange. The ultimate solution requires collective industry effort to improve ad quality and user experience, creating a more sustainable ad-supported open web where publishers can continue funding high-quality content.

The Scale of Dark Traffic

Ad-Shield’s data shows that roughly 10–30% of total web traffic is affected by ad blocking, and 60–80% of that blocked segment qualifies as dark traffic that legacy solutions fail to address. Furthermore, over 50% of ad block traffic originates from network‑level configurations (eg. corporate IT, VPNs) that block ad requests by default.

Ad-Shield’s technology is installed on publisher sites to detect attempts to block ads or trackers. When detected, it protects ad slots and re-renders the ad stack. This enables the monetisation of previously lost traffic and uncovers additional users who were visiting but invisible to the publisher.

Publisher Challenges

Publishers are facing mounting pressures from AI, zero-click search results, and overall traffic declines. This environment pushes them to prioritise loyal, organic audiences and seek incremental revenue wherever possible. Yet, many publishers underestimate the scale of dark traffic, seeing it as minor.

A core part of Ad-Shield’s mission is to educate the industry on the magnitude of lost revenue and audience. As traffic and revenue decline, publishers are more receptive to tools that recapture lost audiences and monetise the traffic they already own, making Ad-Shield's solution especially relevant.

Future Vision & Industry Responsibility

The rise of ad blockers stems partly from excessive and intrusive ads. Publishers and advertisers have a shared responsibility for improving user experience through better content and more relevant, creative ads. This could be through reducing ad volume, improving UX, and lowering incentives to block.

Most users understand the value exchange where ads fund free content. The industry’s mission should be a healthier, ad-supported web that respects this understanding. Dustin hopes all ad-supported digital properties will recognise and address dark traffic to help fund high-quality content – their core mission and key differentiator against AI-generated content.