Google’s ad-blocking Chrome browser, which is set to block all ads on websites not conforming to the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA), may be more forgiving than first thought, with research suggesting only a handful of online ads will be blocked by the browser.
Eyeo, owner of Adblock Plus, claims that just 17% of ads will be removed by Google’s forthcoming ad-blocking filter. The rival software company conducted its findings based on the CBA’s white paper which tested 55 different types of ads for acceptability (pop-ups, takeovers, autoplay ads), comparing them against the Acceptable Ads criteria.
Adblock Plus also added that itself and other ad blockers currently block 51 of the different ad types (92.7%), calling out Google’s Chrome ad filter as more of an “ad-skimmer”.
So what does this mean? For the Chrome browser, which may initially impact publishers who rely on such as ads as a source of revenue, the effect of the Chrome update may not be as bad as first thought, with many ad types expected to be allowed to pass through the net.
For example, ads that are either flashing or animated should be served on the Chrome browser with the exception that they don’t intervene with the text on the webpage.
In addition, full page pop-up ads are expected to be allowed through with the option for users to skip immediately, but such ads that run for more than five seconds look certain to be blocked if they prevent user access to an article on a website.
In comparison, however, Adblock Plus strictly blocks pop up ads that it considers “disruptive” for the user when reading online while allowing some static ads to come through, under its Acceptable Ads policy.
Stricter competition
The report from Adblock Plus, which dress Chrome’s update as a soft-touch initiative, may come as a relief to publishers, but can be interpreted as a rally for loyalty – among an estimated 100 million user base – with Chrome making a weighty entry into its long-dominated territory.
Chrome remains the most popular browser among nearly half of all internet users in the US, while there are two billion browsers in active use across mobile and desktop; Adblock Plus could stand to lose a significant portion of users migrating to Chrome’s inbuilt feature.