Google Chrome will start cracking down on intrusive video ads starting August as they try to become compliant with the new rules put forward by the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA). The CBA is a dedicated group that oversees online ads and how they can be delivered to users in a better way. Google is also part of the group, and it was one of the co-founding members.
The new rules, first announced yesterday, treat different types of short-form video ads (under eight minutes) as intrusive. The industry group detailed three different ad formats that will not be allowed to grace the web anymore.
The decision, according to the group, was based on extensive research on short-form video ads involving nearly 45,000 consumers in 8 countries, representing 60% of global online advertising spending.
Here are the three video ads, now considered intrusive;
Long pre-roll ads that can’t be skipped
Any non-skippable pre-roll ads or group of ads more than 31 seconds long that appear before a video starts, which cannot be skipped in the first 5 seconds.
Mid-roll ads
Mid-roll ads are ads that play in between content, thus disrupting the viewing experience. Under the new CBA rules, all types of mid-roll ads are considered intrusive. However, don’t get too excited about the non-interrupted YouTube experience — long-form video ads are not yet banned.
Large display ads that block the video player
This refers to “non-linear display ads that are in the middle 1/3 of a playing video or are larger than 20% of the video content.”
The coalition says they will assess compliance with the new policies from June 5th this year.
Google, on its part, says they will start enforcing the new rules as of August 5th, inside their products, including Chrome browser, google ads, and on YouTube.
The company will start blocking ads that don’t comply with the new rules. Before that, they will start informing webmasters to update their video ads as soon as they detect a website is associated with a Google Search Console account.
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