Google Will No Longer Accept Flash Display Ads Starting June 30th
Little by little, the web is transitioning to a Flash-free experience. HTML5 has emerged as the popular replacement for Flash content, though there are still scores of web ads out there that still use Adobe's Flash Player. That's about to change—at the end of June, Google will no longer accept new Flash-based ads on its ad networks.
"Starting June 30, 2016, display ads built in Flash can no longer be uploaded in into AdWords and DoubleClick Digital Marketeing," Google's AdWords division stated in a Google+ post. "Starting January 2nd, 2017, display ads in the Flash format can no longer run on the Google Display Network or through DoubleClick."
The anti-Flash sentiment has grown strong in recent years for various reasons, not the least of which is security. New security vulnerabilities are frequently being discovered in Flash, and while Adobe is usually pretty good about issuing timely patches, there's an uneasy feeling from relying on something that's so frequently exploited and bug ridden.
Google is doing its part to transition to HTML5. It's now the default media format for YouTube, and come January of next years, all Flash ads will be eradicated from its ad networks. Many could be wiped out in advance of the deadline, as Google's been encouraging developers to convert ads to HTML5—AdWords even has a tool that will do it automatically.
Even Adobe itself has pretty much thrown in the towel at this point. While it continues to support Flash, Adobe recently renamed its Flash Professional CC suite to Animate CC in response to customers who have "clearly communicated" that they wanted Adobe's creative offerings to "evolve to support multiple standards."
"Starting June 30, 2016, display ads built in Flash can no longer be uploaded in into AdWords and DoubleClick Digital Marketeing," Google's AdWords division stated in a Google+ post. "Starting January 2nd, 2017, display ads in the Flash format can no longer run on the Google Display Network or through DoubleClick."
The anti-Flash sentiment has grown strong in recent years for various reasons, not the least of which is security. New security vulnerabilities are frequently being discovered in Flash, and while Adobe is usually pretty good about issuing timely patches, there's an uneasy feeling from relying on something that's so frequently exploited and bug ridden.
Google is doing its part to transition to HTML5. It's now the default media format for YouTube, and come January of next years, all Flash ads will be eradicated from its ad networks. Many could be wiped out in advance of the deadline, as Google's been encouraging developers to convert ads to HTML5—AdWords even has a tool that will do it automatically.
Even Adobe itself has pretty much thrown in the towel at this point. While it continues to support Flash, Adobe recently renamed its Flash Professional CC suite to Animate CC in response to customers who have "clearly communicated" that they wanted Adobe's creative offerings to "evolve to support multiple standards."
