  Ad blockers allow users to browse websites without viewing ads. Online news
providers that rely on advertising revenue tend to perceive users adoption of
ad blockers purely as a threat to revenue. Yet, this perception ignores the
possibility that avoiding ads, which users presumably dislike, may affect users
online news consumption behavior in positive ways. Using 3.1 million anonymized
visits from 79,856 registered users on a news website, we find that adopting an
ad blocker has a robust positive effect on the quantity and variety of articles
users consume (21.5% - 43.3% more articles and 13.4% - 29.1% more content
categories). An increase in repeat user visits of the news website, rather than
the number of page impressions per visit, drives the news consumption. These
visits tend to start with direct navigation to the news website, indicating
user loyalty. The increase in news consumption is more substantial for users
who have less prior experience with the website. We discuss how news publishers
could benefit from these findings, including exploring revenue models that
consider users desire to avoid ads.
