Google, a company which sells digital ads, is reportedly working on a feature for Chrome which would block ads by default.
However, it sounds as though not all ads will be filtered out, according to the report in the Wall Street Journal. WSJ reports Chrome’s ad blocker will only filter out ads which are considered to provide a poor experience.
What’s considered a bad ad type?
”Unacceptable ad types would be those recently defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that released a list of ad standards in March. According to those standards, ad formats such as pop-ups, auto-playing video ads with sound and “prestitial” ads with countdown timers are deemed to be “beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability.”
Does that mean some ads may make it through Chrome’s ad-blocking filter while others won’t? According to the WSJ, a possible option Google is considering is blocking ads across an entire site if any offending ads are detected anywhere.
If this ends up being true, then all ads on a site must adhere to the recently released ad standards or all ads will end up getting blocked.
There’s a lot of questions left to be answered, but the WSJ says we could learn more soon with Google being on track to announce the feature “within weeks.”
Why Would Google Create an Ad Blocker?
No doubt the question on everyone’s minds is why would Google create an ad blocker in the first place. According to WSJ’s report, it has to do with the growth of third-party ad blockers creating a concern within the company.
Google would essentially have “more control” over the state of ad blocking. Perhaps there’s a feeling within the company that if bad ads are filtered out, internet users will be more receptive to good ads and less inclined to block them.
We’ll have to wait and learn more when the company officially announces the new feature.
