Chrome Heavy Ad Intervention Testing

What is Chrome's Heavy Ad Intervention?

Chrome protects browsing performance by blocking ads that consume excessive resources. When an ad exceeds certain thresholds, Chrome removes it and displays an error message in its place. This feature enhances page speed and reduces battery drain, particularly on mobile devices.

How the test works

The Heavy Ad Intervention test in Advalidation identifies instances where ads may be unloaded by Chrome due to excessive resource use. This helps ensure ads stay within acceptable limits before campaign launch.

Chrome's thresholds

Chrome considers an ad "heavy" if it meets any of these criteria:

• Network usage — Uses more than 4 MB of total network bandwidth
• Peak CPU usage — Uses the main thread for more than 15 seconds in any 30-second window
• Total CPU usage — Uses the main thread for more than 60 seconds total

When any of these thresholds are exceeded, Chrome removes the ad frame and replaces it with an error page.

How to evaluate your results

When this test is enabled, Advalidation flags instances where ads may trigger Chrome's intervention:

• Pass — Ad resource usage is within Chrome's limits
• Fail — Ad exceeds one or more thresholds and may be unloaded