Large sticky ad
Large Sticky Ads · experience 04 of 23
It is an ad stuck to the bottom of the screen. It does not move when the person scrolls the page and takes up more than 30% of the screen.
Understand it in 1 minute
A large sticky ad is an ad that stays stuck to the bottom edge of the page, no matter how far the person scrolls. They move down the text, but the ad stays in the same place. While the person browses, this fixed, motionless ad takes up more than 30% of the screen. It is like reading a book with someone holding a sign over the foot of the page the whole time.
The Coalition for Better Ads explains that this ad is a problem because it keeps covering part of the page at any point in the reading. The number that decides is 30% of the screen: the large sticky ad is the one that goes beyond that. A sticky ad that takes up 30% of the screen or less does not fit this definition. The official page lists no other exceptions for this case.
There is also a decision by the Coalition's Interpretation Panel that helps to understand desktop. The panel looked at the Sitebar, an ad strip that sits in the space between the page content and the right-hand scrollbar, without overlapping the content. The panel concluded that the Sitebar is very similar to the tested "large sticky ad on the side" experience, which did not fall below the standard, and that the Sitebar therefore meets the standard on desktop. In other words, on desktop the problem described is the large ad stuck at the bottom, over the reading.
Allowed
- A sticky ad on the bottom edge that takes up 30% of the screen or less.
- An ad in the page footer that scrolls with the content and leaves the screen.
- Sitebar: an ad strip between the content and the right-hand scrollbar, not covering the content (Interpretation Panel decision).
- A large sticky ad on the side: according to the Interpretation Panel, this tested experience did not fall below the standard on desktop.
Not allowed
- An ad stuck to the bottom edge that takes up more than 30% of the screen throughout the reading.
- A sticky ad at the bottom that stays still while the person scrolls and covers more than 30% of the screen.
- A sticky ad in the footer that grows (expands) and ends up taking up more than 30% of the screen.
In practice
Imagine a finance site with an ad stuck to the bottom edge of the screen. The person scrolls the text, but the ad stays in the same place and takes up more than 30% of the screen. It covers part of the text the whole time, and this is what the Coalition calls a large sticky ad. If the sticky ad took up 30% of the screen or less, it would not fall under this definition.
Why it's annoying
The ad follows the entire scroll and hides part of the text the whole time.
How to fix
- Keep the sticky ad at 30% of the screen at most.
- A close button helps the person, but does not fix it: what counts is the size.
- Avoid sticky ads at the top and bottom at the same time.
In ConsentMode
The actual size only shows up with the ad loaded; the report asks you to check it and shows where the sticky slot is.
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