I wonder if anyone actually BUYS products they've seen on an obnoxious, loud, flashing, video or pop-up advertisement? Surely if nobody did, they'd stop.
Until then, it just seems to be getting worse. My solution on the laptop is the Chrome browser with Adblock Plus, Flash Control and Ghostery.
BEWARE fakes and similar-sounding names! There are some malware programs that actually substitute their own, more obnoxious ads and pop-ups.
Flash control is a lifesaver for anyone who doesn't like pages that put up a talking head or play a flash video on loading.
Ghostery is a little different. It shows you - and optionally blocks - all the tracking sites that a site sends your header information to. It's absolutely astonishing how many otherwise reputable sites are tracking you 10, 15, 25 or more different ways!
I'm all for a free, ad-supported web. But I won't tolerate ads that take up too much bandwidth, take up too much page real estate, scream at me, or flash at me.
In the Android world, I've been using the new Adblock browser instead of the built-in Chrome browser. So far, except for the lack of ads, I've found no difference in functionality or performance. Look it up - it seems to be a project worth supporting.
The big browser vendors (Microsoft, Apple, Google) have a vested interest in steering you to THEIR advertising partners. They offer products to minimize some of the worst offenders, which is good, but they have no interest in blocking all ads or impacting the "experience" they and their partners are trying to push.
Cruisers don't always have fast, free, unlimited bandwidth. Web browsers and apps are not made for people like us. We need to find alternatives.