Last week on February 15, 2018

Chrome launched a built-in ad blocker in conjunction with Google last week. Chrome will block ads deemed unacceptable (such as pop-ups, auto-playing video ads, etc) and will not show ads, including Googles, on websites not in compliance with the Better Ads Standards.

So, what does this mean?

Considering that Google serves more online ads than any company on Earth, this is huge news. Chrome has approximately 60% of the desktop browser market share (and growing), sites will likely have no choice than to follow the guidelines. Interested in what the guidelines are for Better Standards? Take a look for yourself: https://www.betterads.org/standards/

Here's what "intrusive advertising” changes will look like for consumers:

1. Pop-up ads – initiated by user actions, such as a mouse click or a mouse-over , a window containing an offer for some product or service appears in the foreground of the visual interface.
2. Prestitial ads – appears on a mobile page before content has loaded, blocking the user from continuing on to the content.
3. Ad density over 30% – when an ad takes up more than 30% of the vertical height of the main page, the result is a disruptive ad experience.
4. Flashing animated ads – rapidly changing background and colors are highly aggravating for consumers, and serve to create a severe distraction
5. Videos set to auto play – if there is audio in the video, users must have the option to play the video or not to
6. Poststitial countdown ads – appears after the user follows a link and it then forces the user to wait a number of seconds before the ad can be dismissed
7. Full screen scroll-over ads – forces the user to scroll through an ad that appears on top of content
8. Large sticky ads – ads that attach to the sideline of a page and often times block content, regardless of a user’s efforts to scroll

www.wikipedia.com, www.google.com, www.androidpolice.com, www.betterads.org, www.chartec.net