Prestitial ad with countdown
Prestitial Ads with Countdown · experience 03 of 23
It is an ad that appears before the page content loads. The person has to wait a few seconds of countdown to be able to close it, or the ad disappears by itself.
Understand it in 1 minute
A prestitial is an ad that appears before the page content loads. On desktop, the rule covers the prestitial with a countdown: it makes the person wait a few seconds before they can close the ad, or the ad only goes away by itself when the time runs out. The person clicked to read an article and, instead of the article, finds an ad screen counting the seconds. It is like arriving at a door and having to wait for someone to finish a speech before you can go in.
The Coalition for Better Ads explains that this type of ad can be so annoying that people give up waiting for the countdown to end. Instead of reaching the content, they leave. So the problem is the mandatory wait before seeing what they came for.
On desktop there is a clear exception. According to the Coalition, prestitials that can be closed immediately did not fall below the standard for desktop. In other words, if the close button works from the very first moment, with no countdown, the ad is outside this rule on a computer. Be careful with mobile: the rule is different there. On mobile web, the Coalition tested the prestitial with a countdown and also without one, and both fall under the mobile rule. So an ad screen before the content that passes on desktop may not pass on mobile.
Allowed
- An ad screen before the content, on desktop, that can be closed immediately.
- A banner at the top that appears together with the content, with no screen before it and no countdown.
- An ad between paragraphs that appears after the content has already loaded.
Not allowed
- A "Your content starts in a few seconds" screen before the article, with no way to close it before the end.
- An ad before the content where the close button only appears when the countdown ends.
- An ad before the content that only goes away by itself after a few seconds of waiting.
In practice
Imagine a tech site that, before showing each review, displays an ad screen with a countdown. The person clicked to read and has to wait for the countdown to end to reach the text. Many give up and leave, as the Coalition describes. If the same screen had a close button that worked right away, on desktop it would not fall below the standard.
Why it's annoying
The person clicked to read and hits a mandatory wait before the content.
How to fix
- Allow closing right away (no countdown).
- Prefer ads between pages, not before the first content.
- Cap the frequency per session.
In ConsentMode
Detects a screen that covers the page when it opens. The real ad count has to be checked by a person.
Run an audit