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FlashDeath

Google has gear up a date on when Chrome will brainstorm automatically blocking flash ads and refusing to let non-critical content to play by default. On September 1st, Chrome will no longer offer to play "non-essential" content. Instead, users volition have to right-click on a plugin and choose to "Run this Plugin" by hand. Google claims that this is a move to protect battery life and ameliorate device security, but at that place'due south another, simpler reason: It too stands to brand Google more money.

If y'all're already a Google AdWords customer, you lot don't necessarily have to change annihilation y'all're doing. According to Google, it already converts most Flash ads to HTML5 automatically. Users of the AdWords platform are encouraged to manually confirm that their ads make the jump and to adjust accordingly. If you aren't on Google'southward AdWords platform, however, yous're going to have to either convert your ads for HTML5 or motion to Google's services.

The new "Click to play" on a Mac.

The new "Click to play" on a Mac.

Google is far from the but company moving abroad from Flash; Amazon has also announced information technology will no longer accept Flash ads beginning on September ane. The difference, even so, is that Amazon'southward policies govern ads displayed on Amazon.com, not ads running over its ain advertizement network. For Google, this kind of move gives it the power to kill several birds with a unmarried rock. Flash has long been maligned for its bombardment-hogging tendencies, ability to slow even modern multi-core systems to a crawl, and security flaws. Killing support for the platform, therefore, is arguably great for security and performance.

Few people will argue about a famine of autoplaying ads on websites, either. Given the number of security breaches that continue to plague the service, at that place's footling uncertainty that Flash deserves to die an unlamented death. Amidst the proposed epitaphs: "You loved it more than RealPlayer."

What'll be interesting is if Chrome continues to automatically play videos from services like Facebook, and if we see an uptick in AdWords revenue equally a result of this. If you don't have the time or inclination to rework your ads for HTML5, later on all, you may have to motion to Google'southward platform to proceed serving what yous accept. This shift could draw boosted scrutiny from the European Union's regulators, who recently appear they would investigate Google for anti-competitive activeness, including activity related to its advertizing and shopping networks. In a response yesterday, Google blasted the suit as beingness without merit — a common tactic among pretty much every company the EU has investigated, including Microsoft and Intel.