Google has been getting pretty aggressive about ads on theGoogle Play Store, to the point where a news post like this could very well pop up once a month or even multiple times a month. The Google Play Store is viewed daily by millions of people, so for a company thriving on the ad business, it would be unwise to not take advantage of it to show a couple of ads here and there. Except there are not just a couple now, but actually a lot of them. The latest modification to the Play Store’s constantly-expanding ads is a rather minor change, but still one that gives ads much more prominence after you install a new app.
For most people, ads showing up in an app listing under the “Suggested for you” section are organized as simple icons, with three of them visible at a time, letting you swipe through them to see more suggestions. Now, these ads disguised as recommendations are transforming a bit. There’s a chance that you’ll see a two-row carousel of banners.
The banners themselves are wider, so you’ll see two per row, but you’re getting two rows, so you’re actually seeing more ads — four of them, to be more precise — on your screen. And yet again, you can scroll through them to see more. At the same time, the “More apps to try” and “More by the developer” sections are pushed further below, which are arguably more organic results and might be more relevant to the app you just installed.
Before and after
Just one month ago, Google got into hot water with the amount of ads on the Play Store, as the company began showing ads not only in search results, but also when you’re typingyour actual search queryin the Play Store’s search bar. It’s safe to say Google is out to shove ads pretty much everywhere now, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Hopefully, it’ll be before the Play Store becomes a bloated mess. It kind of is one in a few ways already, you could argue.
This change isn’t rolling out to everyone yet — we don’t have it, for one. However, we’re expecting this change to come quickly to everyone.
