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Google Chrome Ad Blocking: What it means for you

Starting 02-15, Google Chrome will begin blocking ads that do not meet the Coalition for Better Ads' standards. The Coalition for Better Ads is an industry group of technology and media companies...

Google Chrome Ad Blocking: What it means for you

Starting 02-15, Google Chrome will begin blocking ads that do not meet the Coalition for Better Ads' standards. The Coalition for Better Ads is an industry group of technology and media companies...

Starting 02-15, Google Chrome will begin blocking ads that do not meet the Coalition for Better Ads’ standards. The Coalition for Better Ads is an industry group of technology and media companies that includes folks like the IAB, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Facebook, and of course Google. Interestingly enough, advertisers, agencies, ad tech vendors and governance groups/associations folks greatly outnumber publisher members. From Google:

In June, we announced Chrome’s plans to support the Better Ads Standards in early-2018. Violations of the Standards are reported to sites via the Ad Experience Report, and site owners can submit their site for re-review once the violations have been fixed. Starting on February 15, in line with the Coalition’s guidelines, Chrome will remove all ads from sites that have a “failing” status in the Ad Experience Report for more than 30 days. All of this information can be found in the Ad Experience Report Help Center, and our product forums are available to help address any questions or feedback.

We look forward to continuing to work with industry bodies to improve the user experience for everyone.

What’s the Coalition for Better Ads? The Coalition for Better Ads is an industry group of technology and media companies that includes folks like the IAB, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Facebook, and of course Google. Interestingly enough, advertisers, agencies, ad tech vendors and governance groups/associations folks greatly outnumber publisher members. What’s this mean for publishers? Basically, Google is saying that they will block all ads on a site if content does not meet their guidelines if not addressed within 30 days. You can use the incredibly convoluted Ad Experience Report to identify and fix ‘bad’ experiences on your site. Here is a quick run down of the ‘experiences’ (ie. ads) that will earn you a fail:

DESKTOP 

Pop-up Ads 

Auto-playing Video Ads with Sound 

Prestitial Ads with Countdown 

Large Sticky Ads

MOBILE WEB 

Pop-up Ads 

Auto-playing Video Ads with Sound 

Prestitial Ads 

Postitial Ads with Countdown 

Ad Density Higher Than 30% 

Full-screen Scrollover Ads 

Flashing Animated Ads 

Large Sticky Ads

Taking a look at this list, there are indeed some not-so-great user experiences. Look a little closer –  which of these formats can be run on Ad Exchange or programmatically without a lot of hassle? High impact, directly sold ad experiences are definitely singled out. Get in touch with questions or concerns about your ad portfolio or are looking to transition away from one of these formats. We’re here to help.