I found DNS ad-blocking solutions to be pretty lackluster and lots of ads were still getting through. With uBlock Origin only sites ahead of the curve were getting their ads through (porn sites, facebook, etc.). Couple this with Bypass Paywalls[1] browser extension and the web is pretty usable.
I also tried to go one step further and setup mitm-proxy to man in the middle all of my traffic to see if I could do more invasive but thorough ad filtering. Certificate pinning from the likes of instagram, facebook, apple, and google really stymied this approach. So all in all, I don't see much benefit from DNS adblocking instead of ublock origin.
I count my site to be ahead of the curve in a different direction in that we sell and host our own advertising (static jpgs) and do not use any 3rd parties for ads. This helps us control the ads content as well as get to keep 100% of ad revenue.
The only 3rd party thing we use is Google Analytics and a Google font, but the site still works fine when users block them.
I really wish more sites did this... I know that for sites that don't get, say 1M views a month, it would be difficult to match the ad networks... but for even a million views a month, it's probably better to get dedicated/approved ad support and building relationships with vendors than to try to poison your own site with ad networks, often blocked.
This is the best thing for the web, I think. It's doesn't seem as good for advertisers in terms of utility for targeting, but on the flip side, I for one am more willing to support sponsors when they have a direct relationship with the content provider.
You don't really need advanced targeting analytics when your content is narrow enough and draws a particular type of reader.
In our case, readers are likely interested in office design/office furniture products because all we do is publish office design project images and information.
I have an idea I'm hoping to work on in the coming years which aims to move the web back in this direction now that I've had some years of experience doing it.
I found the big blocklist collection to really help augment the lists of blocked URLs. https://firebog.net/ If you login to the web UI of your Pi-hole instance, you can easily add more lists in the settings -> blocklist tab. Specifically the "ticked" lists: https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=tick
It's not just ads, if you're concerned about privacy then DNS-level blocking won't cut it. For example, you can't block cookies or third-party scripts via DNS blocking.
> So all in all, I don't see much benefit from DNS adblocking
The benefit is as a tack-on for a home network for devices and traffic that doesn't go through a web browser. E.g. for mobile apps connected to the network. But once again, as far as privacy is concerned, that won't block e.g. Facebook SDKs embedded in apps unless you block the relevant domain entirely.
I run those same plugins on all my browsers and I'm still blocking between 30-60% of total requests for tracking beacons and other privacy-invading calls that get past the plugins.
I also tried to go one step further and setup mitm-proxy to man in the middle all of my traffic to see if I could do more invasive but thorough ad filtering. Certificate pinning from the likes of instagram, facebook, apple, and google really stymied this approach. So all in all, I don't see much benefit from DNS adblocking instead of ublock origin.
1 - https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome