Google Chrome has a date for when it’s going to block annoying ads from websites
Google's internet browser Chrome will start removing annoying adverts from websites from February 15, 2018, it has announced.
From that date, Chrome will block ads that breach the "Better Ads Standards," guidelines developed by an industry coalition. This means that the most annoying types of messages, such as pop-up ads, auto-play videos with sound and flashing animated ads will be removed.
"Starting on February 15, in line with the Coalition's guidelines, Chrome will remove all ads from sites that have a 'failing' status in the Ad Experience Report for more than 30 days," a post on Google's developer blog stated. The Ad Experience Report will highlight ads on a website that breach the ad standards and may identify the issues publishers need to fix.
Google told CNBC in June that it is working with publishers in a new program called Funding Choices.
Under the program, when a user with a third-party ad blocker enabled visits a participating site using Chrome, they will see a prompt that asks them to either turn off their ad blocker, or "pay for a pass that removes all ads on that site through the new Google Contributor." If they choose to pay the fee, Google will take a 10 percent cut. If they select neither choice, they won't be able to view the website.
Ad blockers are an obvious problem for publishers because if people don't see or click on ads, their sites won't collect revenue. A February report from PageFair said that 615 million devices now use ad blockers worldwide.
Some web pages can feel dominated by advertising and the Coalition for Better Ads announced Monday that it is launching a better ads experience program come January. Publishers signed up to it will "agree not to use the most disruptive ads" according to coalition standards, the organization said in an online statement.
CNBC's Todd Haselton contributed to this report.