Adobe Flash ads to be blocked by Google Chrome
In our earlier article, we had mentioned that as of September 1, internet ads that use Adobe Flash will be blocked on Google Chrome. Finally that day has arrived and Google Chrome has bid adieu to Adobe Flash.
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast.
Used by over 50% of the Internet, the browser Chrome is officially preferring HTML5 ads over Flash content to better browser performance. Flash ads will be paused by default, and advertisers just have to hope users will decide to play them voluntarily.
As quoted by Google earlier:
?In June, we announced that Chrome will begin pausing many Flash ads by default to improve performance for users. This change is scheduled to start rolling out on September 1, 2015.
Google decided to take this step, as Flash technology was increasing page-loading times, draining battery more quickly and was also vulnerable to malware attacks, which thereby decreased the overall quality of the Chrome experience. If you wish to see Flash ads in the future, you will have to click on the files and manually enable them to play.
Flash users were already warned in advance by Google and even provided with a helpful converter that would turn Flash ads into HTML5 automatically. The Flash content on most webpages will be basically paused by the switch, which would ISO turn stop the advertisements playing on the page implying that majority of the Flash content won’t be available to Chrome users.
On one hand, where Apple’s iPhone and iPads have always been free of Flash making them easy, now even Amazon is making efforts to reduce Flash ads, it has also been banned by almost all video playback services. Earlier this summer, Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos too called for the death of Flash.
According to data collected by Sizmek, an ad management technology firm, Chrome displayed over a third of Flash ads in the first quarter of 2015. This move has been made by the company to try and convince advertisers to stop using Flash technology altogether.
HTML5 technology has been recommended as an alternative by both Google and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. HTML5 provides pretty much the same functionality like Flash but is more efficient in performance than the former. Scott Cunningham, IAB’s Vice President of Technology and Ad Operations, says that “HTML5 is the way forward, and that has become clearer and clearer.”
So, adios to Flash and welcome HTML5. However, in the meantime, the possibility that people will be able to block internet ads completely is worrying the digital media industry as it would decrease their revenue from ads.
