Google Chrome to Block Annoying Intrusive Video Ads

Google is working to make the integrated ad blocker in Chrome better at blocking the ads that really annoy users. Google says that there are three ad experiences that are particularly disruptive to users watching video content of less than 8 minutes long. Those include pre-roll ads of longer than 31 seconds that can’t be skipped within the first 5 seconds.

The other is mid-roll ads of any duration in the middle of a video that interrupts the experience. The other is text or ads that appear on top of a video and are in the middle 1/3 of the video window or cover more than 20% of the video content. This sounds like everything YouTube does.

Google uses the Coalition for Better Ads rules for setting the ad blocker. The coalition says that website owners should stop showing these ads to site visitors in the next four months. Starting on August 5, Chrome will expand user protections and stop showing ads on any site in any country that repeatedly shows those disruptive ads.

Google notes that it intends to stop showing these disruptive ads on YouTube. Google says that website owners should check their site status in the Ad Experience Report. The information offered there will help site owners prepare.