Advertising overload

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Advertising overload refers to the practice of not only integrating advertising as a source of revenue in software and websites, but also increasing the number of ads within platforms that consumers use. This has increasingly caused inconvenience to consumers. A commonly cited issue is the length of unskippable ads, which are forcibly shown to people who need to watch CPR videos, with these ad durations only growing longer over time.

Applications in industries

Operating systems

Operating systems have been experiencing this decline into advertising, mostly from the large market lead Windows. King's Candy Crush frequently comes pre-installed on Windows 10 operating systems, without consumer consent, and this game is additionally loaded with ads. Microsoft Solitaire Collection, a mainstay title for Windows devices, has had unnecessary ads inserted into the software. Users who purchased Windows 10+ licenses have reported a progressively increasing number of ads within the software. Windows 10 pop-ups that frequently advertise legacy users into purchasing Windows 11-supported hardware.

Smart televisions also have been seeing a sharp increase in advertisements within the operating system as well, such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Roku has faced criticism for its plans to introduce ads that appear whenever users pause a game they are playing. This does cause concern since these detection systems depend on constant spying on consumer's activities.

A screenshot of the home screen for an Amazon Fire TV

The Xbox One dashboard as of 2022

Users of Xbox One/Series and PlayStation 4/5 consoles, have been receiving ads on the home screens of their systems for over a decade. This practice dates back to the prior console generation, such as on the Xbox 360.

Streaming services

In the late 2010s, there was a polarizing shift within the streaming service industry, wherein new free streaming services such as IMDB TV and Roku Television would be offered, with the caveat of ads. This had then inspired corporations who operated premium streaming services to do the same. In the early 2020s, paying users would then be forced to watch ads. Since then, users have only been reporting an increase in the amounts of ads that they watch on their services. These premium providers, such as Netflix, do offer versions of their services that are ad free at a higher cost. Consumers have labeled this practice as a form of extortion. Plex is one of the few services which only offer a paid, ad-supported version of its platform.

These ad-free tiers additionally are increasing in price, so it often forces consumers who are disinterested in alternative means to either pay an excessive amount of money to watch their favorite media, or be barraged by increasing ads.

Traditional Gaming

While not on par with its Mobile gaming counterpart, traditional video games have also been experiencing this heavy increase in advertising. This has especially been seen and documented from titles such as Call of Duty and Fortnite. The home screen and launch screen experience for these games often aim to direct players toward the storefront, encouraging them to purchase whatever low-cost microtransactions are being promoted that day. [needs citation]

[Insert screenshots from Call of Duty and Fortnite]

Additionally, Activision Blizzard has a dedicated advertising division for companies to advertise their products inside their games. Epic Games has done a similar thing. It is expected that legitimate ads may be progressively more pervasive within the media that users pay for. Advertising agencies in general are also trying to integrate billboard ads for legitimate products inside games, such as Trackmania.

In-game ads in Trackmania

Additionally, some platforms have gone so far as to send users notifications explicitly promoting these new products available for purchase within the game. Most have kept these notifications in-game, but some have been reported to leave notification pop-ups directly on users' devices. It is entirely plausible that these marketplace advertisements will increase in popularity from publishers as time goes on.

Advergaming

Further reading: Advergames

While not as popular as it once was, companies would pay developers to work on games that exist solely to advertise a product, such as McDonald's McWorld, which also advertised other products inside the game. Sometimes these games would also introduce additional anticonsumer practices, often to the detriment of young kids. Many of these games were made as shovelware as well, so many of these games are often not meant for an extended period of time to be accessible. Older advergames often only sold for a short period, only up to a few years at best, so if a game was actually good, there is a problem of FOMO, this has been seen with popular titles such as Pepsiman on the PS1 or Cool Spot on the Sega Genesis. In the 2000s, these games often preferred accessing servers, mostly to encourage serving additional ads. Many of these would not last long, and these products people invest into are just taken away from them, such as ToonTown or Club Penguin.

In the modern day, Advergaming has largely preferred existing metaverses, such as Roblox or the literal Metaverse. These too, have brought controversy and can be seen as anti-consumer.

Mobile gaming

A feature often associated with mobile games in the modern day are ads, especially misleading ads. Unfortunately, publishers such as Puzzle1Studio, Metacore Games, and Rovio have a history of publishing titles that corner the consumer into frequently watching ads in the middle of their games. This practice additionally leeches into Microtransactions, wherein these app developers will intentionally try to coax users into watching ads, such as for increased rewards, or to reduce cooldown times.

Major software distribution platforms, such as the Google Play store or the iOS App Store, often allow this behavior to persist from app developers, even featuring these ad-heavy games.

Social Media

Social media has become a fundamental part of the advertising world, thanks to the ease with which targeted audiences can be reached based on their interests. However, there are various types of advertising that users encounter when using all the major platforms.

Native ads (In-feed ads)

Native ads are designed to blend seamlessly into the rest of the feed, mimicking its appearance. They are distinguishable from organic content by the label “sponsored,” often written in very small text. As highlighted by Dr. Bartosz W. Wojdynski’s research, native ads can easily be misleading. In fact, 68% of participants in his study failed to distinguish them from organic content. Therefore, it is crucial that these ads do not come across as deceptive. The FTC follows these three principles:

1. Transparency is key: An advertisement or promotional message should not suggest or imply to consumers that it is anything other than an ad.
2. Clarity of commercial intent: Some native ads may be so clearly commercial in nature that they are unlikely to mislead consumers even without a specific disclosure. In other cases, a disclosure may be necessary to ensure consumers understand the content is advertising.
3. Clear and prominent disclosures: If a disclosure is necessary to prevent deception, it must be clear and prominent.

Native ads are generally more engaging and lead to stronger brand identification among consumers.

Video Ads

Video ads are among the most common forms of advertising on social media and can appear either as standalone content or be inserted at the beginning, end, or middle of another video. Shorter, skippable, and non-intrusively placed ads perform better, as they respect user autonomy. Targeted ads are more likely to capture interest. As with other ad formats, transparency is crucial here as well, ensuring that the ad is not perceived as intrusive.

Stories Ads

Ads that appear in Stories are full-screen, vertical, and often feature interactive elements like swipe-up links, polls, or countdowns. They expire after 24 hours, giving them an ephemeral nature. Story ads are better perceived when they are creative, non-intrusive, and relevant to users' interests.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a type of advertising in which brands team up with social media personalities, also known as influencers, to promote a product or service. Most of these influencers have large and engaged followings, which they use in leveraging their credibility and relatability in reaching out to their audiences in ways that feel far more authentic than traditional advertising.

Users are more influenced by social media personalities with their values and lifestyles. Consequently, authenticity, trustworthiness, and relevance are the key drivers of consumer behavior. Thus, when influencers share real-life experiences of using a product or service, their recommendations are more likely to resonate with followers and result in higher levels of engagement and purchase intent.

Congruence is crucial: the match between the persona of the influencer, the product he is promoting, and the interests of the audience. When such a fit among the elements is strong, it makes the campaign more credible since it is considered as genuine. With this congruence, their credibility will rise as an influencer, and then the emotional relationship with the audience will be stronger.

Over-commercialization—when influencers are promoting too many products or not being transparent—can erode users' trust. Clear disclosures, such as #ad or #sponsored, help to maintain transparency and adhere to advertising regulations. Unfortunately, such disclosures are often hidden among numerous hashtags or omitted altogether.

Web

See also: Advertising Overload in Websites

Ever since the introduction of cookies in the early 1990s, websites have been trying to make progressively more money off of advertisers. This pattern used to be easily thwarted, as in the early days of the web, consumers could simply choose not to visit these websites to avoid being so pervasively served advertisements. Unfortunately, in modern times, consumers lack this capability, as mass advertising has now become a systemic problem. Popular news sources, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and others, are filled to the brim with advertisements. As mentioned by publications such as The Huffington Post, The Conversation, and B2, the web itself has too many ads.

Banner Ads

Banner ads are the most common form of web ads and one of the oldest forms of digital advertising, usually appearing as rectangular graphics at the top, bottom, or sides of a webpage. However, despite their pervasiveness, their effectiveness has been questioned due to phenomena such as banner blindness, where users unconsciously ignore ad-like content. Banner ads work only if they are rightly placed, well designed, and relevant.

This research featured the use of eye-tracking technology to analyze how users behave with banner ads. It was found that such ads placed in central or prominent positions on a webpage receive significantly more attention than those in peripheral areas. Moreover, the animated and interactive banners are better at capturing attention than static ones; however, too much may become distracting and otherwise counterproductive. This also underlines that the relevance of the ad to the user's interests is one of the critical drivers of engagement. If banner ads are contextual, relating either to the content of the webpage or the browsing behavior of the user, they are more likely to be noticed and clicked. Advertisers should focus on creating non-intrusive, contextually relevant advertisements that add value to the user experience—not disrupt it.

Notable Examples

This section is a stub, please add to it!

YouTube

Here’s a breakdown of YouTube advertising, focusing on the specific ad formats and experiences across the website, iOS/Android apps, and TV platforms:

YouTube Ads on the Website

1. Pre-Roll Ads (Video Ads):
   • Play before the selected video.
   • Types:
     • Skippable Ads: Allow users to skip after 5 seconds.
     • Non-Skippable Ads: Typically 15-20 seconds long and cannot be skipped.
2. Mid-Roll Ads:
   • Appear during longer videos (10 minutes or more) at natural breaks.
3. Bumper Ads:
   • Short, non-skippable ads of 6 seconds.
4. Display Ads:
   • Banner ads that appear above the video suggestions sidebar.
5. Overlay Ads:
   • Semi-transparent banners that appear at the bottom of the video.

YouTube Ads on iOS/Android Apps

1. Pre-Roll and Mid-Roll Ads:
   • Similar to the website, but often more frequent due to the higher engagement on mobile devices.
2. Bumper Ads:
   • Similar to the website.
3. In-Feed Ads:
   • Appear in the home feed or search results as promoted videos.
4. Shorts Ads:
   • Short, vertical video ads that appear between YouTube Shorts clips.

YouTube Ads on TV Platforms (Smart TVs, Streaming Devices)

1. Pre-Roll and Mid-Roll Ads:
   • Longer pre-roll ads (up to 30 seconds) are common, as viewers are less likely to skip them.
   • Mid-roll ads are placed at natural breaks in longer videos, similar to traditional TV commercials.
   • Non-skippable ads are more prevalent
2. Interactive Ads:
   • Ads that allow users to interact using their remote (e.g., clicking for more information).

Youtube premium controversy

Recent controversy has brought up cases in which YouTube Premium subscribers still see advertisements—contrary to the service's own highlighting of offering an ad-free experience. Users have reported both pre-roll ads and mid-roll ads, along with promotional content in the Home feed. In one prominent case, a user in Germany received an email from support at YouTube which said, in essence: "Sometimes promotional ads may appear for specific partnerships or limited-time offers," thereby hinting at the possibility of factors like location, viewing history, or special marketing efforts that could influence the event.

In response to these reports, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed that Premium members should not see either pre-roll or mid-roll ads. They further stated that if subscribers do, they should reach out to support immediately. YouTube also said that Premium members may have access to different rewards with trusted partners, which they outline on their benefits page, but those shouldn't show up as ads within the video itself. A fix for this is also shown in this guide.

Youtube influencer marketing

Influencer marketing on YouTube is a highly common practice that manifests in several forms. The most frequent format is sponsored videos, where influencers create content entirely focused on a specific product or service. Another widely used format is product placements, where influencers casually integrate a product into their regular videos. However, these can sometimes be the most frustrating for viewers, particularly when the sponsored product has little to no connection to the video’s topic and is marketed in a misleading manner. For example, VPN services promoted by influencers are often claimed to guarantee complete privacy and no data collection while browsing the web, which can feel deceptive if not properly substantiated. Lastly, shoutouts and affiliate links represent a subtle yet effective method for influencers to promote products. In this case, the influencer briefly mentions a product or service and encourages viewers to explore it further, often including a link in the description or a discount code.

Windows

During the use of Windows, users may encounter various types of advertisements, particularly in specific applications, services, or interfaces. Here’s an overview of the most common types of ads that appear in Windows environments:

1. Microsoft Store Ads

• Where they appear: Within the Microsoft Store app, which is used to download apps, games, and other software.
• What they look like: Promoted apps or games displayed prominently on the homepage or in search results.

2. Start Menu and Lock Screen Ads

• Where they appear: On the Start Menu (e.g., suggested apps) or the Lock Screen (e.g., background images with promotional content).
• What they look like: Tiles or notifications promoting Microsoft services like OneDrive, Office 365, or third-party apps.

3. In-App Ads (e.g., Microsoft Solitaire, Weather, News)

• Where they appear: In pre-installed Microsoft apps like Solitaire Collection, Weather, News, or Sports.
• What they look like: Banner ads, video ads, or interstitial ads (full-screen ads between levels or content).
• Purpose: To monetize free versions of apps, with options to remove ads through paid subscriptions

4. Bing Ads in Search and Widgets

• Where they appear: In the Bing Search Bar (on the taskbar) or the Widgets Panel (accessible via Win + W).
• What they look like: Sponsored search results or promoted content within the widgets interface.

5. Outlook.com Ads (Free Version)

• Where they appear: In the free version of Outlook.com (web or app).
• What they look like: Banner ads or promotional emails within the inbox.
• Purpose: To monetize the free email service, with ads removed in the paid (Microsoft 365) version.

6. Edge Browser Ads

• Where they appear: In the Microsoft Edge browser, particularly on the New Tab Page or within certain websites.
• What they look like: Promoted content, sponsored news articles, or shopping suggestions.

7. Windows Tips and Notifications

• Where they appear: In the Action Center or as pop-up notifications.
• What they look like: Tips or suggestions to try new features, services, or apps (e.g., OneDrive, Microsoft 365).

8. Game Bar and Xbox App Ads

• Where they appear: In the Xbox Game Bar (accessible via Win + G) or the Xbox App.

What they look like: Promotions for Xbox Game Pass, new game releases, or in-game content.

How to Reduce or Disable Ads in Windows:

There’s the option to disable some of these ads, as shown in this guide.