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So this is a slight digress, but while we're on the subject, how does an advertiser know that an ad has been successfully served or blocked? I've never had that

So this is a slight digress, but while we're on the subject, how does an advertiser know that an ad has been successfully served or blocked? I've never had that part fully explained to me. If they're just basing it on number of adds clicks, I rather doubt whether I use an ad blocker or not makes much difference, because I can more or less guarantee that in the ~18 years I have actively surfed the web, the number of ad links I have consciously clicked is between 0 and 5. So I assume, then, that they have some way of tracking whether the ad was presented to the end-user?

tim333 12y ago
Not my expertise but to show an ad there is usually a request to the server to send the graphics or similar so I guess they could track if that happens. Not sure if they do in practice. Occasionally a website notices I have an adblocker and moans at me or warns that it may mess up the functionality.
hullo 12y ago
Ad servers keep track of the number of times the graphic (or other asset) for a particular campaign was served. Lots of other "pixels" also get bundled into the calls depending on what kinds of ad tech the advertiser, publisher, or middlemen are running. How many people (living, breathing, checkbook-possessing people) actually see an ad is an entirely different question from how many it is served to, and there is (of course) a whole 'nother area of ad tech companies working in that space.