Google may be as sick of annoying online ads as you are.
The company is exploring setting new rules with an “acceptable ads policy” that could aim to alleviate consumers’ rampant use of ad blockers by requiring ads on its networks to be less aggravating, according to a report by Digiday, citing unnamed sources.
Google’s rules about what advertisers can and can’t do would affect all online advertising. It and Facebook are the two biggest players in digital ads. Google alone represents more than 30 percent of the total worldwide digital ad market, according to online advertising researcher eMarketer, which expects it to hold more than half the market for search ads specifically this year.
Ads that are slow, obtrusive or annoying are key reasons people install programs that block all ads. Digiday said it is unclear what new standards Google could set. In one scenario, Google would require that only ads meeting its rules would be allowed on its site and YouTube, as well as through its DoubleClick ad exchange where many publishers sell their commercial “space.”
Google declined to comment on the report to TheWrap. But Google executives addressing the issue of ad blockers in the past have said the company needs to work together with the industry to create a standard for better ads online.