Google: Flash Ads Are Finally Going Out, HTML5 Ads Are In

After taking many steps in this direction, Google announced Tuesday that it will finally stop serving Flash formatted display ads.

As of June 30, 2016, advertisers will no longer be able to upload new Flash ads into AdWords or DoubleClick. The final hit will happen on January 2, 2017, when Flash ads will no longer be eligible to run on Google’s ad networks. All display ads are to be built in HTML5.

Oddly, video ads built in Flash won’t be affected by these deadlines, the company says. There’s no word when similar changes will affect video.

This is the final of many steps Google has taken to rid its systems of Flash. Google began auto-converting Flash ads to HTML5 on mobile devices that don’t support Flash in February 2015. In September, Google started pausing Flash-based ads by default in its Chrome browser. Last January, YouTube made the HTML5 player its default.

Amazon stopped taking Flash ads last fall. Flash creator Adobe has itself made it clear it’s moving away from Flash to HTML5, rebranding Flash Professional as Animate CC in December.

Google said the move will “enhance the browsing experience for more people on more devices.” Advertisers are encouraged to migrate their ad formats to HTML5 ahead of the deadlines.