Following in Opera’s footsteps, Google is going to include their own ad blocker in Chrome. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which further stated that the ad blocker will be on by default in the popular web browser.
Counterintuitive?
It seems ironic as the search engine relies on ads for the majority of its revenue. The company made north of $60 billion through online ads in 2016. According to WSJ, Google is going to target specific kind of ads including pop-ups, auto-playing video and audio advertisements. If Chrome blocks the annoying kind of ads itself, users won’t need to get a 3rd party ad blocker.
Google does not agree with making deals with the likes of Ad Block Plus to whitelist their own ads from their browser extension. Another reason for making their own ad block is a large number of users using Google Chrome.
Most Popular Browser in The World
Chrome is the most popular browser in the world and took the crown from the infamous Internet Explorer in 2016. It boasted a 56% market share compared with 21% of Internet Explorer.
If that user base does not need to go for a 3rd party ad blocker and Google gets to show its own ads, it will be a win-win for both.
Acceptable ads could gain traction which would benefit other advertisers as well.
Not Confirmed Yet
Of course, this kind of plan isn’t flawless by any means. Google is an advertiser and a major one at that. This would draw criticism from industry peers and antitrust watchdog organizations alike.
WSJ says that it’s not really a done deal at this point but if Google does go ahead with it, it is going to break the news within the next few weeks. Google I/O is in mid-May and the company could make an announcement at the event.
Only time will tell what the future holds for the online advertising industry.
Oh Wait! Do people still use Internet Explorer – 21% market share? They must use it to download Google Chrome or Firefox!