What's The Most Annoying Type Of Online Ad?

As more and more web surfers become inured to standard banner and box ads, the designers and developers of online advertisements continue to find new ways to engage consumers. Unfortunately for advertisers, many consumers tend to find each new evolution in ad tech to be more aggravating than the last.

Which types of ads do you find most nerve-grating?

Is it the video ads that auto-play when you navigate to a page, alerting everyone within earshot that you’re not doing your job?

Is it the super-headers — often for movies and TV shows — that initially bump down all the content on the homepage to where you can’t tell what site you’re on? And perhaps even worse, the super-headers that automatically retract after a few seconds, throwing off your navigation of the page?

Of course there’s always rollover ads, those nasty little buggers that require you to be surgeon-like with your mouse as you move around a page, lest you have to quickly click out of the auto-play video for the latest Jen Aniston romp or the newest development in laxatives.

Maybe it’s those ads that just float above the page with the tantalizing “X” that is supposed to close the ad when clicked, but never seems to work?

What about forced interstitial ads that require show up as a separate page between web pages? Is there anyone who doesn’t click “skip ad”?

Then there’s text links, which always seem to be for the shadiest products, even when located on sites with 1 billion+ monthly pageviews.

There are probably about 20 more general types I haven’t even gotten to, which is why this can’t be a poll.

But we do want to know which kinds of ads really get under your skin the most. So please, comment away!

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