Google Chrome, YouTube to remove ‘annoying’ video ads in next four months

Google Chrome will soon make web browsing a more pleasant experience by removing those annoying video ads from different websites and YouTube. As announced on the Chromium blog post by product manager Jason James, the team confirmed that the Coalition for Better Ads has announced new standards for ads that show up in videos. As a part of it, websites should stop showing three types of ads in the videos within the next four months.

These three kinds of ads are:

-Long, non-skippable pre-roll ads or groups of ads that are longer than 31 seconds and appear before a video starts.

-Ads of any duration that are shown in the middle of a video, hampering the user experience.

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-Image or text advertisements that show up on the top of the video and are in the middle 1/3 of the video player window or cover more than 20 percent of the video content.

Google has added in the blog post that it will follow the new standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads. "Following the Coalition's lead, beginning August 5, 2020, Chrome will expand its user protections and stop showing all ads on sites in any country that repeatedly show these disruptive ads," James stated.

More importantly, this will also affect YouTube videos. "It's important to note that YouTube.com, like other websites with video content, will be reviewed for compliance with the Standards. Similar to the previous Better Ads Standards, we'll update our product plans across our ad platforms, including YouTube, as a result of this standard, and leverage the research as a tool to help guide product development in the future," added James.

Website admins are also recommended to consider reviewing their site status in the Ad Experience Report. The tool will help them identify if they have any ad on their website that violates the standards.