• by George Penston , Op-Ed Contributor, September 4, 2015

As the Web 2.0 tenets of usability and personalization have moved from aspiration to expectation across the Internet, Flash ads have become not only a user nuisance but a poor business decision for advertising stakeholders. Flash ads, previously an innovative method for exposing users to interactive, moving content instead of still images, ceased living up to their value prop around the time the last jewel-tone iMac “Flavour” was unplugged and put away. Recently, as Google’s Flash-blocking policy went into effect, Flash ads went from being unpopular to officially irrelevant. 

Although this transition may come as a shock to publishers and advertisers reluctant to change outdated procedures and technology, Google is doing companies a favor in the long run. The digital ecosystem has been at the mercy of Flash for too long, enduring install plugins, multiple updates, long load times that affected a site’s SEO, and, most importantly, the infamous security flaws. In addition to these practical concerns, the novelty of a rich media banner flashing across the screen, begging to be clicked, has faded as users became accustomed to ads beckoning with ever more customized appeals to their interests and habits instead of clamoring for their attention. Static, clunky Flash is just no longer worth the advertising budget drain in contrast to flexible, dynamic, fast-loading HTML5 ads.

When Google joined the charge of disabling Flash ads, led by Safari in July 2014 and Mozilla in July 2015 and vocally approved by Facebook and Yahoo, it was the final step of Flash banners’ forced march from relevance to oblivion. Previously, publishers were offered the option to convert Flash ads to HTML5 for display in Chrome – now they must choose to display ads in HTML5 or lose out on reaching Chrome’s 1 billion active users. 

Despite some initial difficulty for creative teams and budgets that have not yet switched to HTML5 ads, the transition will be mutually beneficial for users, advertisers, and publishers. HTML5 was developed with security in mind, and the ability to develop an ad experience that can be interacted with on a desktop, tablet, and mobile is essential today. In addition to these benefits of Flash, prior to September 1 up to 1/3 of ad inventory may not have been running due to Flash ads suspended by Safari, Mozilla, and ad blocking software. Now that this waste of resources and funds will also happen to ads on the most popular web browser, and the inferiority of the format is expressed to users explicitly and tangibly through “intelligent pausing,” we expect many more companies to answer HTML5’s call to action.

Most publishers have migrated their technology stack to HTML5, but they also need to work with their advertising buyers and demand partners to provide them with right creative assets for this format. There should be incentive from both sides to make this work, as the change in format will have a direct impact on revenue – an impact that publishers should be rejoicing about, as this change will cut development to support both HTML5 and Flash. They will see improved supportability and lower operating costs to support two code bases.

The death knell sounded for Flash is sure to ring in a fresh advertising zeitgeist mirroring the wave of innovation and creativity caused by Flash banners in their late ‘90s/early ‘00s heyday. Just as early users and their clicks were drawn to the rich media and compelling creative of Flash, now more users than ever will be attracted to the targeted content and cross-screen omnipresence granted by HTML5. It will be the job of publishers, advertisers, and their creative teams to leverage this opportunity to connect with users through tools like programmatic creative, ushering in a new era of widespread delightful experiences on both sides of the screen.