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Trai Mulls Action Against Online Video Ads

Telecom regulator Trai is mulling an action against annoying auto playing video advertisement. Video ads download automatically at the time of internet browsing, leading to a unwanted surge in data usage for consumers. Considering the growing concerns of consumers on these nagging video adds, Trai has decided to crack the whip on unwanted online brand publicity by advertisers.

The issue, which has been noticed across platforms — mobile handsets or home broadband connections — is being taken seriously by the regulator and action may follow very soon, Trai chairman RS Sharma told TOI.

“I am concerned with this involuntary download which actually consumes data from the internet packs. This is bad. This is a serious problem, and I am concerned about it, he said.

Experts and industry analysts have often blamed “unnecessary and hidden downloads” behind the higher usage, mostly without the consent of the consumer. The issue of involuntary downloads was also highlighted in a survey conducted by an online mobile app nanu, which spoke to mobile customers in 23 states across the country.

The nanu survey, conducted in June this year had shown an increasing possibility of consumers facing hidden data charges without their knowledge. As per the survey, about 42 percent respondents were unaware of video ads consuming data without clicking on them, while 35 percent had noticed an increase in data billing without any enhanced usage.

Also Read: Facebook To Bypass Ad Blockers On Desktop

Sharma said Trai intends to speak to various parties concerned as it moves to sort out the issue.”We will also speak to the technology people and find out whether there are technological solutions to it. If technological solutions are there, then we will work with the companies and solution providers,”Sharma said.

Data consumption and tariffs being charged by telecom operators is increasingly turning out to be a serious issue for consumers. As data consumption grows faster than the revenues from voice, there have often been complaints by consumers over increased billing through internet despite the browsing pattern remaining almost the same.

Using ad-blockers is an effective way to cut out the unwanted advertisements. According to a report in Scroll, around 122 million people in India use some sort of ad-blocking feature to surf the internet without viewing advertisements. India is also the fastest growing markets for mobile phone ad blockers according to this Pagefair report.

To tackle this social media giant Facebook has figured out a way to display ads even when someone is running an ad blocker. In a blog post, Facebook essentially said that its ads aren’t that annoying and are critical to its existence, so it is going to begin forcing ads on people who are currently trying to avoid them.

Industry analysts said with the advent of faster internet services such as 4G, the issue is only going to get serious, if not tackled now.

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