New Google Chrome version to block resource-heavy ads

Google has always focused on providing users with a fast, responsive, and good user experience through the Chrome browser. They recently announced that Chrome is going to start blocking ads that are resource-heavy and drain a user’s battery and network data starting in August 2020.

Examples of ads that are known to be resource-heavy include crypto mining ads, in-banner video, as well as ads that are poorly programmed and unoptimized. Let’s take a closer look at how this process works and what publishers should do.

How it will work

Chrome will limit the resources an ad can use before a user interacts with it. If an ad reaches its resource limit, an error page gets displayed within the ad frame. The user will also be informed that the ad used up ‘too many resources’.

Below you’ll see an example of an ad that used ‘too much resources’ and did not display correctly.

Source: https://blog.chromium.org/2020/05/resource-heavy-ads-in-chrome.html

Google did extensive data research to create ad resource thresholds. They’ve created the following data thresholds:

• 4MB network data or
• 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 second period or
• 60 seconds of total CPU usage.

According to Google’s research data, only 0.3% of ads exceed these thresholds, but they account for a whopping 27% of network data used.

What publishers should do

Running ads that adhere to the Better Ad Standards are as crucial as ever. Publishers should always consider user experience and not go out to try and make a quick buck with intrusive ads.

Not respecting the user with these kinds of ad experiences will lead to higher bounce rates, less returning traffic & an increase in ad block rates.

If you are running ads that are resource-heavy such as those mentioned above (crypto mining, in-banner video), you need to keep an eye on performance, watch out for discrepancies, and consider replacing these kinds of ads.

Conclusion

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