[MWParkerson]

Hey there, writer here:

I can understand how it comes off that I consider rewarded ad formats bad, but that's actually not the case. I have the view that advertisers should know when their ad shows in that context. Those ad formats work for a lot of different kinds of advertisers, particularly mobile game developers.

What's most troubling here is that NONE of the advertisers knew this is how their ads were loading.

There are standards on how to disclose this kind of ad placement in an auction, but they weren't followed at all. Advertisers thought they were showing their ads to organic visitors of a website with high contextual relevance to their product / company values.