Google has stopped using annoying 'interstitial' mobile app ads: Report

Search engine giant Google has just realised, how annoying it is for users to have to deal with those full-screen ‘interstitial’ ads that pop up when a mobile site is being loaded and suggests to download an app instead. Following this rage, Google decided to relook at its approach towards interstitial ads for its own Google+. [caption id=“attachment_275487” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Google Blog[/caption] According to the  Official Google Blog, 9 percent visitors did press the ‘Get App’ button while 69 percent abandoned the page completely. After these results, Google decided to remove the interstitial ads from Google+ and replace it with banner ads instead. It was reported that active users increased by 17 percent while iOS native app installs were unaffected. Google concluded that, “We decided to permanently retire the interstitial,” wrote David Morell, a software engineer for Google+. He added, “We believe that the increase in users on our product makes this a net positive change.” Google hopes other mobile sites will reconsider the use of promotional interstitials as well, Morell added. According to a report by TechCrunch, the company’s Google+ interstitial study is a teaser in terms of data it yields, but it highlights the continuing challenge of serving any kind of ad on mobile without radically annoying users. It also shows Google is looking for ways to reduce the “friction”, as it puts it, of mobile ads, the report added.