.png)
Ad-blocking has risen sharply in recent years as advertisers have tried increasingly intrusive ways of getting readers’ attention. As ad-blockers have gotten more robust, ads have gotten more and more obnoxious. Ad-blockers work on most any web browser out there, but it seems that there might be a new ad-blocker built into a web browser, and really, you’ve seen the title so you already know, but it really probably isn’t the browser you’d think. Google is reportedly considering adding a built-in Chrome ad-blocker according to the usual “people familiar with the situation.”
You’d probably think it odd that a company whose fortune was built almost entirely on advertising would voluntarily add any sort of advertising blocking to their own software. It could very easily be seen as a move to cut out non-Google ads in order to promote their own ads, but at least on paper, the search and advertising giant seems to be on the up and up. The Coalition for Better Ads released a list of “unacceptable ad types” back in March, and rumor is that the Chrome ad-blocker would likely block ads deemed “unacceptable,” which consist of:
According to those standards, 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 has naturally declined to comment on what is as of this time largely a rumor, but the move does make a lot of sense in some ways. As ad-blocking increases, the chances of getting Google’s ads blocked increases as well. By adding their own ad-blocker they can control a bit more about what comes and goes through their own filter. It’s possible that Google will decide to skip the whole matter entirely, but the Wall Street Journal knows “people familiar with the situation” (who are those people, anyway?) who believe there’s at least a chance. This could also be a colossally bad idea for Google, who is already embroiled in their fair share of anti-trust lawsuits around the world.
What do you think about the possibility of a Chrome ad-blocker? Good idea? Too much potential for Google to “be evil?” Tell us what you think in the comment section below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[ Source:-http://q.gs/DgVsL ]
