Google Chrome might get a built-in ad blocker this year
Reports of Google building an ad-blocker for the popular Chrome browser raised a few eyebrows when the news first broke; after all, in 2016 the company almost made $20 billion in advertising revenue. It’s safe to say online advertising is an essential pillar to the company’s success, so at first glance, including an ad-blocker in the dominant web browser doesn’t seem like it would really benefit their bottom line.
The information first came to light thanks to an anonymous source who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, who says that Google plans to use the ad blocker in desktop and mobile versions of Chrome. This ad-blocker would be aimed at certain kinds of ads like pop-ups, pre-load landing pages, and auto-playing ads with audio that users have found irritating.
One possible reason Google wants its own ad-blocker is it wants more control over what ads are blocked. At the moment, most people look to Chrome extensions like AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and uBlock Origin. Google has little to no control over what ads those extensions block, which is key when it comes to getting leverage over advertisers. With added pressure on advertisers to do away with intrusive ads, Google could be hoping to improve the web browsing experience, which is Google’s primary goal with Chrome.