Ad networks promise to do something about the awful adverts

... you're all blocking, like, real soon

[tangor]

The Interactive Advertising Bureau – a powerful association of ad networks and marketing types that shift the vast majority of online adverts in the US – has finally noticed all the hate aimed at web advertising.

After months, if not years, of cyber-space-blighting malware-laden ads that exploit Adobe's screen-door-of-the-internet Flash, and the creeping use of ad blockers, the IAB's Tech Lab has had a bright idea:

Why not develop a file format and delivery mechanism for ads that are less annoying to users, safer, and hopefully lead many to turn off their ad-blocking tools.

[theregister.co.uk...]

[robzilla]

...and hopefully lead many to turn off their ad-blocking tools.

Ha.

[lucy24]

I'm not sure about the intended scenario here.

Step 1. I fire up a browser I don't normally use, or I'm shoulder-surfing at someone else's house, or I deploy a public browser without addons.
Step 2. I am bombarded with all the ads I don't normally see. ("Oh, oops, you mean the site designer didn't leave a bunch of restful white space in that corner?")
Step 3. "Hey, wow, those ads are pretty! They enhance my viewing experience! I had no idea what I was missing. I'm going to disable ad blocking right away."
Steps 1, 2 and 3 presumably lead to:
Step 4. I am captivated by the previously-unseen advertising for suchandsuch product or service, and scurry to take a closer look, preparatory to spending lots and lots of money on whateveritis.
(Not sure about Step 4, but that's the underlying premise isn't it? That a certain proportion of the people who see ads will spend money at the advertiser's business, or else why would they pay for advertising.)
Step 5: Advertisers develop software to detect when a user has an ad blocker, but has chosen not to use it (either globally or for specified sites), and adjust their payment rates accordingly.