Suddenly, it seems like every website known to man is foisting videos that play the instant the page loads on their readers. ABC News was the first prominent offender that I noticed, seemingly blaring something on every page. But the last few days, it’s been constant.
I get the need to generate advertising revenue. Indeed, I’ve been doing it at OTB for the last six or seven years. But it’s one thing to have ads in the sidebar and quite another to have sound assaulting us through our speakers.It’s especially irksome for those, like myself, who open multiple pages at a time in separate browser tabs.
We’ll see whether this is a passing fad that goes away because of user revolt, or whether users take more aggressive means to block advertising. Or, as I’ve started doing more and more, leaving the speakers muted unless I’m specifically trying to listen to something.
