User:Keith/List of companies utilizing intrusive advertisements
 | Scores and evidence on this page are contributed by wiki users, and may not be drawn from external sources. |
Intrusive ads are a subcategory of adverts which are particularly or unusually disruptive to the consumer, typically because they demand the consumer's attention, or their active participation, in circumstances where the consumer has agreed to provide neither.
This page has an attached form for adding entries to the list. The form, based on your answers, will automatically indicate whether the advertising practice belongs on the list.
Factors for inclusion
[edit | edit source]Based on the factors outlined in ad creep, an entry that appears on this list must be delivered in such a way that it is more intrusive than a normal advert, and it must not be part of an explicitly agreed to and clearly communicated 'bargain' with the consumer.
Each entry is scored 1–5 on three criteria, plus a fourth for payment. An entry must average 3 or more, and must either be at least partially paid for or score above 3 on expectations.
- Violation of viewer expectations: how far the advertising departs from what a reasonable person would anticipate here. Low scores are advertising you were told about, in a place you would expect it; high scores are advertising in a previously ad-free product, or somewhere you were promised there would be none.
- Ad avoidability: how easily the viewer can escape the advert, and what it costs them to do so. Low scores can be ignored or walked away from; high scores must be endured in full, or engaged with, to get whatever the viewer came for.
- Ad intensity: how forcefully the advert imposes itself, by volume, scale, motion, duration and repetition. Low scores are small, silent and static; high scores dominate the setting, or are aimed at people in no position to tolerate them.
- Has the consumer paid for the product or service?: Yes (scored as 5), Partially (3), or No (1).
Full scoring criteria [click to expand]
Violation of viewer expectations
| Score | Criteria |
|---|---|
| 1 | The advertising is exactly what a reasonable person would expect in this context, and was disclosed clearly before purchase or download. |
| 2 | Advertising is expected in this context, but the specific format, frequency, or placement is somewhat beyond what a reasonable person would anticipate. |
| 3 | Advertising is only nominally disclosed (e.g. buried in terms and conditions), or substantially exceeds what a reasonable person would expect from this type of product or service. |
| 4 | Advertising was introduced to a previously ad-free product or service, or appears in a context where a reasonable person would expect none at all. |
| 5 | Advertising appears where the consumer was explicitly told it would not (e.g. an "ad-free" tier), or extends outside the product entirely (e.g. notifications or pop-ups while the product is not in use). |
Ad avoidability
Avoidability considers how easily the viewer can escape exposure to the advert, and what it costs them to do so. "Cost" should be read broadly: giving up a place in a queue, abandoning a task, leaving a room, or losing access to something they are entitled to.
| Score | Criteria |
|---|---|
| 1 | The advert can be ignored or walked away from freely. Exposure requires no action to end and carries no cost to the viewer. |
| 2 | The advert is persistently present and cannot be removed, but it does not interrupt what the viewer is doing and they may disengage at will. |
| 3 | The advert interrupts the viewer, or must be actively cleared, moved away from, or otherwise acted upon — but doing so is immediate and carries little cost. |
| 4 | Exposure can only be ended by waiting out a fixed period, by giving up something of value, or by means that are deliberately obscured, delayed, or made difficult. |
| 5 | Exposure is effectively unavoidable. The viewer must endure the advert in full, or actively engage with it, in order to obtain or continue whatever they came for. |
Ad intensity
Intensity considers how forcefully the advert imposes itself on the viewer's senses and attention, independently of whether they can escape it. Consider volume, scale, motion, duration, repetition, and the suitability of the setting.
| Score | Criteria |
|---|---|
| 1 | Static, silent, and modest in scale. Sits at the edge of the viewer's attention and is easily tuned out. |
| 2 | Static or lightly animated and silent, but large, repeated, or positioned so as to be difficult to overlook. |
| 3 | Uses sound or motion, or is large enough to compete for the viewer's attention with whatever they are present to do. |
| 4 | Dominates the setting — loud and/or commanding the whole of the viewer's attention — and prevents them from proceeding while it runs. |
| 5 | Overwhelming and sustained: high volume or aggressive motion that the viewer cannot mute or turn away from, of long duration or repeated at short intervals, or imposed in a setting where the viewer is captive, unwell, distressed, or otherwise poorly placed to tolerate it. |
Has the consumer paid for the product or service?
| Answer | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Yes | The consumer has paid for the product or service, whether by one-off purchase, subscription, or as part of a bundled service they pay for. This also applies where a free product or service (such as an app) is required to |
| Partially | The product or service is free at the point of use but is tied to a paid product, or the advertising appears in a paid product while a separate ad-free tier is also sold. |
| No | The product or service is provided free of charge, and no purchase is required at any point to access the functionality in which the advertising appears. |
Required evidence
[edit | edit source]For an entry to appear on this list, editors must provide either primary, or credible secondary, evidence of the existence of the practice. This can take the form of a user-uploaded image/video, a citation to an external source, or a link to the relevant wiki page for the incident.
List
[edit | edit source]The Score is the mean of the four scored columns, and must be 3 or higher for an entry to remain on this list. Add an entry.
| Company | Ad location | Current | Paid product? | Expectation violation | Ad intensity | Ad avoidability | Evidence | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Main advertising banner placed directly below the navigation bar on the Fire TV home screen in the 2026 interface redesign, so that reaching the app list means passing through it | Yes | Yes | 4 | 3 | 3 | Amazon Fire TV 2026 redesign and app restrictions | 3.75 |
| Amazon | Advertising introduced to the Prime Music benefit of an existing Prime subscription, alongside the removal of offline downloads, HD and Spatial Audio, with ad-free listening moved to a separately priced tier | Yes | Yes | 5 | 3 | 4 | Amazon Prime Music ad insertion and download removal (2026) | 4.25 |
| Amazon | Unskippable advertising inserted into Amazon Prime Video for existing subscribers, with ad-free viewing moved to a higher-priced tier | Yes | Yes | 5 | 3 | 4 | Amazon Prime Video ad insertion and ACCC lawsuit | 4.25 |
| BMW | Film promotion displayed on the in-car iDrive screen, introduced to vehicles after purchase | Yes | Yes | 4 | 3 | 3 | BMW Spider-Man in-car advertising | 3.75 |
| Hisense | Unskippable full-screen adverts shown when powering the television on, switching HDMI inputs, reaching the home screen or changing channels, delivered by software update to sets whose advertising settings were already switched off | Yes | 5 | 4 | 5 | Hisense adds unskippable ads to its GUI on the Spanish models | 4.75 | |
| LG | Desktop pop-up adverts on Windows PCs, delivered by adware installed silently through the monitor's driver installation process | No | Yes | 5 | 3 | 3 | LG Monitor App Installer silent installation | 4.00 |
| Microsoft | Promotional content integrated into a paid operating system, including the Start menu, lock screen, desktop, Settings and File Explorer | Yes | Yes | 5 | 3 | 3 | *Microsoft Windows | 4.00 |
| Motorola | Lock-screen advertising, supplied by Glance and enabled during device setup, which re-enables itself after being switched off, prompts the user full-screen to restore it, and cannot be removed without developer tools | Yes | Yes | 5 | 3 | 4 | *Motorola (Section live lock screen) | 4.25 |
| Roku | Auto-playing video advertisement shown before the user reaches the home screen of Roku TVs and streaming devices | Yes | 5 | 4 | 4 | Roku (Section Auto-playing ads before home screen) | 4.50 | |
| Samsung | Full-width advertising banners displayed on the built-in screen of Family Hub smart refrigerators, added by a software update after purchase | No | Yes | 4 | 2 | 2 | Samsung ads in refrigerators | 3.25 |
| Stellantis | Full-screen advertising for extended warranties displayed on the infotainment screen each time the vehicle comes to a stop, obscuring navigation; opting out is possible only through the brand website, not from inside the vehicle | Yes | Yes | 5 | 4 | 4 | Stellantis in-car advertisements | 4.50 |
| Subaru | Full-screen SiriusXM promotions taking over the infotainment display, in some cases while the vehicle is in motion, overriding Apple CarPlay and climate controls until dismissed | Yes | Yes | 5 | 4 | 3 | Subaru Starlink (Section Obstructive advertising) | 4.25 |
| Xiaomi | Advertisements of roughly 30 to 60 seconds in the Xiaomi Yi Home camera app, with audio that cannot be muted, shown on opening the app, before the live camera feed loads, and before playback of motion-triggered clips, on cameras sold as requiring no subscription | Yes | Yes | 5 | 5 | 5 | Xiaomi Yi Home (Section Advertising in a Security-Critical Application) | 5.00 |
See also
[edit | edit source]- List of products and services with post-purchase license change
- Sponsored content in consumer electronics system interfaces
- Ford ad patent