I don't know about you but I am immensely ANNOYED by those videos on websites that start playing automatically and you can't stop them ... no matter what you do! They are INTRUSIVE!
I wake up early and check my emails and the news online. I go to read a news story only to find that there is a video ad that starts playing automatically and cannot be stopped. This is annoying! It's annoying for two reasons. One, I do NOT want to be FORCED to watch, or listen to, an advertisement an advertisement that plays automatically, with no way to stop it. Two, I have someone s-l-e-e-p-i-n-g in the same room and the forced ad WAKES THEM UP ... before I can close the browser and stop the intrusive ad by leaving the offending site.
According to an article by John Miller in Scribewise ...
"Far worse are the auto-play and pop-up ads that interrupt and inhibit the online experience. It has become an art for the makers of pop-up ads to “hide the X” so that it becomes difficult for the consumer to actually see the information they’ve sought out – how is that drawing the consumer closer to the brand? (Hint: It’s not; it’s pushing them away). And while online video can work, pre-roll ads are generally seen as torturous by most of the online public – I know that whenever I am stuck watching a pre-roll ad, I spend the entire time watching the clock in the upper right ticking down the seconds before I can see my story."
EVERY time I am subject to intrusive auto-playing videos and ads on any website I immediately close my browser and immediately leave the "offending" site and NEVER watch or hear the ad or stay on that website. Having to suffer annoying intrusive ads on websites is bad enough. Having to suffer annoying ads on websites that FORCE you to watch or listen to ads is intrusive and anti-consumer. To all the websites and advertisers that use forced auto-play video ads ... STOP IT! They cause visitors/consumers to leave your site and thus never see the ad that the advertisers are paying you to show.
