Postitial with countdown
Postitial Ads with Countdown · experience 12 of 23
You tap a link and, before reaching the page, an ad with a countdown appears. You are forced to wait for the seconds to run out.
Understand it in 1 minute
A postitial with a countdown is an ad that appears after the person follows a link. They tapped to go from one page to another and, along the way, an ad with a countdown appears. This ad makes the person wait a few seconds before they can close it, or wait until it closes by itself or takes the person to another page. It is like getting into an elevator that stops on a floor you did not choose, with the door locked until a clock runs out.
The Coalition for Better Ads explains that these ads frustrate people because they break the flow of the content and are distracting. When someone is trying to go from one page to another and is delayed by this ad, they may even leave the site for good.
There is a clear exception on the official page. According to the Coalition, postitials with a countdown that can be closed immediately did not fall below the standard. So what puts the ad under this rule is the mandatory wait. If the close button works from the very first moment, even with a clock on the screen, the ad is outside this rule. If the person has to wait for the countdown to close it, or for the ad to go away, or to be taken to the next page, it falls below the standard. The official page does not give a number of seconds: it only talks about waiting a few seconds.
Allowed
- An ad after tapping a link, with a countdown, but that can be closed right away.
- A link that goes straight to the next page, with no ad in the way.
- An ad between paragraphs on the next page, which does not trap the person in a wait.
Not allowed
- An ad saying "please wait a few seconds" after tapping "next page", with no way to close it earlier.
- An ad screen after a link that only lets you close it when the countdown ends.
- An ad after a link that only goes away by itself at the end of the countdown.
- An ad with a countdown after a link that, when it ends, takes the person to another page.
- A "see result" button that opens an ad with a countdown before the result, with no way to close it right away.
In practice
Imagine a quiz on a phone. Each time the person taps "next question", an ad with a countdown appears, and they can only continue when the time runs out. This is the postitial with a countdown. If the same ad had a close button that worked right away, it would not fall below the standard.
Why it's annoying
The person clicked to go to another page and is forced to wait through an ad along the way.
How to fix
- Allow the ad to be closed right away.
- Don't hijack clicks on navigation links or buttons.
- Use rewarded ads only when the person chooses them, with a clear invitation.
In ConsentMode
Detects ad screens between pages and forced waits after following a link.
Run an audit