WASHINGTON, D.C., January 14, 2025 – The Coalition for Better Ads today announced updates to its Better Ads Standards for desktop and mobile web, identifying two additional desktop web experiences and two mobile web experiences that fall beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability and are most likely to drive consumers to install ad blockers.
The updates to the Better Ads Standards are based on new research with over 55,000 consumers in markets representative of the digital economy around the world – the U.S., U.K., Germany, Brazil, Japan, and India. This research builds on the Coalition’s prior work by including newer ad formats and format combinations that have emerged in the marketplace since our original research.
“The Coalition continues to conduct extensive consumer research to develop Better Ads Standards to help the online ad industry address consumer preferences,” said Neal Thurman, Director of the Coalition for Better Ads. “The widespread use of Better Ads Standards to guide advertising formats for desktop, mobile web, short-form video, and mobile app demonstrate the industry’s commitment to improving the consumer experience with online advertising. These additions allow the industry to keep pace with consumer views of ad formats”
The following experiences have been added to the Better Ads Standards:
Desktop Web
Mobile Web
The Better Ads Standards cover the technical characteristics of the ad experience, not the messaging or creative contained in those experiences.
The Coalition and its members will continue to engage with trade associations and companies worldwide to educate the industry about the Better Ads Standards and encourage their use, including through in-person meetings, webinars, and other outreach in the coming months.
The Coalition’s Better Ads Experience Program certifies web publishers that don’t use the most disruptive ads as identified in its Better Ads Standards. The Program’s online register of certified companies helps advertising partners identify publishers who apply the Standards. Browsers that participate in the Program commit that they will not filter ads on the sites of certified companies based on the Standards. The Coalition welcomes participation from additional publishers who meet the Program’s requirements. The Program includes an independent dispute resolution mechanism developed by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council in consultation with the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation. The Program, through its implementation entities, will assess compliance with the ad experiences added to the Better Ads Standards for desktop web and mobile web no earlier than May 14, 2026.
About the Coalition for Better Ads
Leading international trade associations and companies involved in online media formed the Coalition for Better Ads to improve consumers’ experience with online advertising. The Coalition has conducted extensive consumer research to develop Better Ads Standards to help the online ad industry address consumer preferences. The Coalition’s members include leading global advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers, and technology companies. An additional 80 trade associations from around the world are affiliates of the Coalition for Better Ads. Companies and trade associations that wish to join the Coalition can learn more at www.betterads.org.
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