Looks like Google is planning an ad block feature in the mobile and desktop versions of Chrome.
It surfaced from a report by Wall Street Journal, quoting sources familiar with the matter. the ad-blocking feature will be switched on by default within Chrome and filters out certain online ad types that has been associated to bad user experiences.
Apparently it could be arriving as soon as “within weeks”, details is still being ironed out at the moment, with chances of plans falling through.
The types of ads blocked will be those deemed “unacceptable” as defined by Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that released a list of ad standards in March. 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.”
Google could be considering blocking all ads on pages that host offending ads. So site owners will have to make sure ads meet standard, or could see all ads blocked from their page.
Google did not comment. Although it does seem to be a curious move, seeing that Google has a huge presence in the advertising scene.
This move could also be seen as a rather defensive approach, since the market for ad blocking tools are growing. Google might be trying to curb that offering from third party companies, which charges a fee for allowing ads to pass through filters.
Google has paid to be part of an “Acceptable Ads” program offered by software company Eyeo GmbH, for example, which develops popular ad-blocking tool Adblock Plus. As a result, advertising on Google’s search engine and some of the other ads it powers are allowed to pass through Adblock Plus’s filters.
Ad blocking is worrying not only for Google but also for other online publishers and services that rely on advertising revenue to support their businesses, many of which work with Google to help sell advertising space on their properties.
The Chrome browser now accounts for a large portion of web-browsing globally, so switching on ad-filters within it could give Google more control over the ad-blocking situation, industry observers say.
