Auto-Playing Ads

jSnively

Hello All,

I'm here again to talk about ads.

We've had a problem recently with ad networks blatantly disobeying our preferences and injecting auto-playing audio and/or video ads on the site, or ads that cause the site to jump around when they load. We hate this, it's our policy not to ever show any ads that play audio or jump around on the page. As soon as we see them, we ban them, but as it turns out big ad doesn't care about little independent publishers too much. A lot of the problem stems from the fact that 90% of ads don't get tested against Safari since the market share on the internet at large is so low. That's not the case here at AppleInsider though, and it means we bump into way more issues most publications.

That's where you come in. Frankly, we could use your help in identifying any offending ads. A lot of these things get served up based on geographic location, so it's difficult for us to see what you as a group can collectively see. The best way for you to help us is to see what place the ad goes (also known as the landing page) to so we can ban the URL. Any screenshots you want to attach of the offending ads will help as well, so we can figure out what slots are the largest offenders. Not only will this help us ban the ads as they come up, but it also helps us build a history of the problem which we can then present to our ad partners to show them that something is very wrong on their end.

Anyone who posts in this thread to help identify an ad will receive a special forum badge (TDB), as well as a heap of points. I know it's not much, but hopefully it can help spur some of you into helping us squash these rogue ads.

Thanks for helping, and as always thanks for continuing to read AppleInsider.

spamsandwich

Have you considered changing ad networks? I notice many sites are wittingly or unwittingly pushing takeover ads which highjack mobile browsers and send you straight into some app on iTunes.

crowley

The cynic in me thinks that this might be a clever way to get your forum members to click on ads and earn you a kickback (but nevertheless I'll keep an eye out for bad ads and let you know, it can't be easy to manage this stuff).

jsnively

SpamSandwich said:

Have you considered changing ad networks? I notice many sites are wittingly or unwittingly pushing takeover ads which highjack mobile browsers and send you straight into some app on iTunes.

 This is something we are looking at, yes.

crowley said:

The cynic in me thinks that this might be a clever way to get your forum members to click on ads and earn you a kickback (but nevertheless I'll keep an eye out for bad ads and let you know, it can't be easy to manage this stuff).

Drat! You've uncovered my plot to make literally tens of dollars. The one ad we have on the forums tends to be ok, as do the ones on iphone.appleinsider.com, so mostly expecting reports on the desktop side of things.

stillwilling

I don't like them either and just discovered that, if an ad begins automatically, there will show a 'speaker-sound' icon on the Safari tab.  One can click that to shut up the ad.  Try that.
~

tenthousandthings

One problem is trying to figure out which ad is the culprit before it stops playing. That just happened to me -- the music stopped playing before I could figure out which ad was causing it. I'm not sure if it was because I was scrolling down, looking for it, and it went out of view (and thus stopped), or because the music just ended.

Any hints?

tenthousandthings

I see this thread is ancient, but I'm having this problem today. I've got one, appearing on the home page. The audio (about airlines) doesn't match the ad, but the ad image flickers and cuts out in sync with the audio, so it has to be it:

Screen shot is here: ScreenShot2017-05-25at1.21.37PM.png

There is a short, fraction-of-a-second glimpse of an airline ad that shows a pigeon flying ["I have this recurring dream that where I actually enjoy flying. There's plenty of room to stretch out, ..."] but then it goes black and is taken over by the image seen in the screen shot above. It's like the image is piggybacking on the airline ad. The audio starts over and over, cutting out and starting again. Profoundly annoying.

EDIT: Google tells me it is a JetBlue ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95-jhNJT-o4

I guess maybe the ad server is trying to superimpose the static ad (see above) over the video ad (per your preferences), but not quite getting it done.

edited May 2017

jsnively

tenthousandthings said:

I see this thread is ancient, but I'm having this problem today. I've got one, appearing on the home page. The audio (about airlines) doesn't match the ad, but the ad image flickers and cuts out in sync with the audio, so it has to be it:

Screen shot is here: ScreenShot2017-05-25at1.21.37PM.png

There is a short, fraction-of-a-second glimpse of an airline ad that shows a pigeon flying ["I have this recurring dream that where I actually enjoy flying. There's plenty of room to stretch out, ..."] but then it goes black and is taken over by the image seen in the screen shot above. It's like the image is piggybacking on the airline ad. The audio starts over and over, cutting out and starting again. Profoundly annoying.

EDIT: Google tells me it is a JetBlue ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95-jhNJT-o4

I guess maybe the ad server is trying to superimpose the static ad (see above) over the video ad (per your preferences), but not quite getting it done.

Thanks for the heads up, we're looking into this. Video ads are actually banned via all our providers, and have had problems with Jet Blue ads in the past as well. Please never hesitate to report something via the feedback forums, even if the thread is really old, that's what they're here for and every report helps!

davidalgregory

All I know is that I cannot use my iPad Pro to login with Purify because the option to login via Twitter does not render with it.

I use Purify to avoid a barrage of ads online.

mscohen

Last night, while looking at messages on my iPhone, a screen popped up with the message "Send Money with Apple Pay". There was not option to dismiss the message, only a button labeled, "Continue". As this looks for all the world like a hack to steal money from me using Apple Pay, I called Apple immediately. Twelve hours later, Apple confirmed that this Autoplaying ad was their own and was "not an ad, but just an informational message".

WTF, Apple? This is a popup ad, plain and simple,\ and is a violation of the sort of user experience that Apple under Steve Jobs insisted on. To sophisticated users, this "information message" looks for all the world like a hack. The fact that it concerns itself with Apple Pay - which already has my credit card information - kept me from using my messages app for the 12 hours that it took to reach Apple. 

This is really inexcusable. Please join my protest and let Apple know that we don't wish to be bullied with ads that literally require a response.

wingman

mscohen said:

Last night, while looking at messages on my iPhone, a screen popped up with the message "Send Money with Apple Pay". There was not option to dismiss the message, only a button labeled, "Continue". As this looks for all the world like a hack to steal money from me using Apple Pay, I called Apple immediately. Twelve hours later, Apple confirmed that this Autoplaying ad was their own and was "not an ad, but just an informational message".

WTF, Apple? This is a popup ad, plain and simple,\ and is a violation of the sort of user experience that Apple under Steve Jobs insisted on. To sophisticated users, this "information message" looks for all the world like a hack. The fact that it concerns itself with Apple Pay - which already has my credit card information - kept me from using my messages app for the 12 hours that it took to reach Apple. 

This is really inexcusable. Please join my protest and let Apple know that we don't wish to be bullied with ads that literally require a response.

I see your response was written like 3 months ago, but still wanted to ask - did you manage to get to someone with your message? Really would like to know someone is working on it.