Google has announced that Chrome’s built-in ad blocker would roll out to users worldwide starting July 9, this year. Currently, Chrome’s ad blocker is only active for Chrome users in the US, Canada, and Europe, after it was initially rolled out in an initial stage in February 2018.
Chrome’s built-in ad blocker isn’t an ad blocker in the classical meaning of the term. It doesn’t block all ads, but only ads on sites that feature intrusive adverts that have a negative impact on users’ internet browsing experience.
The ads that Google considers to be intrusive are defined in the Better Ads Standards, which are a set of standards for online ads that was put together by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group dedicated to improving the web advertising experience.
The Better Ads Standards were chosen based on the feedback of over 66,000 users around the world. Today, the Better Ads Standards lists 12 ad experiences that are considered to have a negative impact.
There are four negative ad types on desktop (pop-up ads, auto-playing video ads with sound, prestitial ads with countdown, large sticky ads) and eight on mobile (pop-up ads, prestitial ads, ad density higher than 30 percent, flashing animated ads, auto-playing video ads with sound, postitial ads with countdown, full-screen scroll over ads, large sticky ads).
