Those who have been around Internet Marketing 10 years ago remember browser pop-ups, pop-unders, pop-exit and many more ads that ruined the browsing experience. When the ecosystem started to understand that pop-ups are a real problem, they were blamed and soon only shady websites were using it ( gambling, porn, etc ).

Today, when mobiles devices ( smartphones, tablets ), become more popular than PCs, website and App Developers want to make money to get their investment back by using ad networks. I am seeing more and more apps using Overlay Ads ( ads that appear on the side of the screen ) and full screen ads ( ads that appear between screen changes ), which in my opinion are affecting the usability. Sometimes they annoy me so much that I am considering them equivalent to old pop-ups.

I am ok with ads and I don’t use ad-blocker software. Even if I am annoyed by the ads on a website or app, I think that if the developer wanted to put that ads in exchange of giving it for free it’s his decision and maybe this is what makes him to continue development. Using ad-blocker is unfair from my point of view. If I am getting really annoyed by the ads I find alternatives or I endure it.

I hope that app developers and ad networks will realize that some type of ads are really annoying and that they will find the right ads that won’t affect usability.