Tuesday, September 08, 2015

No more flash ads on Chrome's newest version

Google recently announced that an upcoming version of chrome would disable ads using flash by default. According to the announcement, this will improve performance of the browser.

The obvious implications of this move will be that many less flash ads will be viewed by users using Chrome. Sites will make adjustments, but flash ads are among the more lucrative ads a site can display making alternatives likely less desirable.

This development is one of the latest in the constant tension consumers have between their desire for speedy functionality and paying little to nothing for it. The more invasive ads are the generally the more effective, and allow the site’s displaying them to pay for more, quality content. Inevitably, moves to curtail these ads will force sites to work harder to generate income, or pull back on content in order to make ends meet.


It is interesting that the strategy comes from Google since its own revenue comes primarily from internet advertising. However, ads generating revenue for Google are not affected. Their cash cows are from their own search site, and then simple banner ads on other sites. They use flash sparingly, which means a move like this can benefit users while hurting competitors – two birds. 

-Russell Brown

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/207541-chrome-will-soon-pause-auto-playing-flash-ads-by-default

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