The largest online advertising company in the world is taking a big step to block the most annoying and invasive ads. On Thursday, Alphabet Inc (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) subsidiary Google rolled out its latest update for Chrome internet browser, which will include a built-in ad blocker for the first time.
Google’s new built-in ad blocker will block website ads classified as intrusive by the Coalition for Better Ads. These intrusive ad types include pop-up ads, noisy ads, ads that block the screen and ads that will not go away.
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Chrome currently holds a dominant share of the global browser market. According to GlobalStats, Chrome holds 56.3 percent of the world’s browser market share. Its nearest competition is Safari, which is owned by Apple, Inc. ( AAPL), which holds 14.4 percent share.
With Alphabet’s business so heavily reliant on advertising revenue, shareholders may be concerned about the impact on Google’s own AdSense and DoubleClick, neither of which are exempt from the new filters. However, Chrome engineering manager Chris Bentzel says the changes could help preserve Google’s ad revenue in the long term.
“While the result of this action is that Chrome users will not see ads on sites that consistently violate the Better Ads Standards, our goal is not to filter any ads at all but to improve the experience for all web users,” Bentzel wrote in a blog post.
Bentzel says 42 percent of websites that had previously displayed ads that violated the CBA standards have already removed those types of ads.
Google is likely also trying to keep more Chrome users from opting for third-party ad blocker software such as Adblock Plus, which indiscriminately blocks all online ads. According to PageFair, 11 percent of internet users are already using some form of ad blocker.
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In the most recent quarter, Alphabet generated $27.2 billion in ad revenue, which accounted for 84.2 percent of its total revenue. GBH Insights head of technology research Daniel Ives says Google’s ad business was the key to its recent earnings beat.
“The star of the show for Alphabet was yet again ad growth (which remains our core focus) as accelerating ad momentum from search and YouTube was a major growth catalyst and enabled the company to handily beat expectations,” Ives says.
GBH has a “highly attractive” rating and $1,280 price target for Alphabet stock.
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Alphabet Inc (GOOG, GOOGL) Launches Its Built-In Chrome Ad Blocker originally appeared on usnews.com
