<story><title>Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/23/12610890/google-search-punish-pop-ups-interstitial-ads</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikewhy</author><text>Not to defend the ad industry, but I don&amp;#x27;t think these are equivalent. YouTube ads don&amp;#x27;t block content so much as they delay it, much like inline ads.&lt;p&gt;The equivalent YouTube ad would be if it started playing and didn&amp;#x27;t pause the video you&amp;#x27;re trying to watch.</text></item><item><author>tyingq</author><text>Google is very concerned about ads that visually block text content.  But somehow forcing ads in front of videos on YouTube isn&amp;#x27;t the same exact thing?&lt;p&gt;Both force an ad to be looked at before granting you access to the content you came for. I don&amp;#x27;t get the distinction.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Sylos</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s two kinds of on-video ads on YouTube. The ones that you described, which play before or during the video that you&amp;#x27;re watching, pausing the video, and then the ads that display in a little overlay at the bottom of the video.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t see how either of these would be alright by this new pseudo-policy, but your argument most definitely does not apply to the latter kind.</text></comment>
<story><title>Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/23/12610890/google-search-punish-pop-ups-interstitial-ads</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikewhy</author><text>Not to defend the ad industry, but I don&amp;#x27;t think these are equivalent. YouTube ads don&amp;#x27;t block content so much as they delay it, much like inline ads.&lt;p&gt;The equivalent YouTube ad would be if it started playing and didn&amp;#x27;t pause the video you&amp;#x27;re trying to watch.</text></item><item><author>tyingq</author><text>Google is very concerned about ads that visually block text content.  But somehow forcing ads in front of videos on YouTube isn&amp;#x27;t the same exact thing?&lt;p&gt;Both force an ad to be looked at before granting you access to the content you came for. I don&amp;#x27;t get the distinction.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tyingq</author><text>Not sure I understand.   Both are an overlay blocking content.  I suspect Google would still punish an interstitial overlay with a countdown timer that dismissed it.  If you don&amp;#x27;t click, YouTube sometimes makes you watch 30+ seconds of ads.&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s Google&amp;#x27;s post about it: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webmasters.googleblog.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webmasters.googleblog.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;helping-users-easi...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>