I'm looking for a single word to refer to an abundance of ads/advertising in a negative way.
For example:
"That website is so annoying due to its ___"
or
"If we put any more ads on this page, I'm afraid we'll have ___"
The only possibilities I've come up with so far are phrases, like "ad overload" or "ad blitz" (the second of which doesn't have a negative connotation anyway).
A made-up word with a clear intuitive meaning would also work.
I think a key question for you is why you're complaining about the ads: Is it because of their visual appearance? Then, as @Cascabel noted, you can use cluttered:
Clutter: A condition of disorder, or a lot of objects that are in a state of disorder
This certainly has a negative connotation.
If you're objecting to the ads solely because of their commercial content, you might want to refer to the impending commercialization or overcommercialization of the site. However, clutter might still work here too (things being in disorder because of unrelated content).
Another option is monetization. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
The term "monetization" may also be used informally to refer to exchanging possessions for cash or cash equivalents, including selling a security interest, charging fees for something that used to be free, or attempting to make money on goods or services that were previously unprofitable or had been considered to have the potential to earn profits. And data monetization refers to a spectrum of ways information assets can be converted into economic value.
Still another meaning of "monetization" denotes the process by which the U.S. Treasury accounts for the face value of outstanding coinage. This procedure can extend even to one-of-a-kind situations such as when the Treasury Department sold an extremely rare 1933 Double Eagle. The coin's nominal value of $20 was added to the final sale price, reflecting the fact that the coin was considered to have been issued into circulation as a result of the transaction.
In some industry sectors such as high technology and marketing, monetization is a buzzword for adapting non-revenue-generating assets to generate revenue.
Although I'm not sure this term gets across a pejorative sense.
In a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, you could also use the old term ad nauseam, as a double entendre:
"That website is so annoying due to its ad nauseam."
or
"If we put any more ads on this page, I'm afraid we'll have ad nauseam."
(make sure to accompany these statements with a nod and a wink)
For the moment I can think of ballyhoo
: publicity characterized by exaggeration, gross flamboyant display, or excessive sensationalism
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged
As in :
"That website is so annoying due to its jumble of ads."
to mix in a confused way; throw together carelessly:
And as in:
The rapid-fire questioning jumbled the witness's thoughts.
Use the noun jumble to describe a confused, multitude of things. In the early 1500s, jumble meant "to move confusedly," and it was probably modeled on stumble. Later that century, as a noun it came to mean a "mix or confuse."
In terms of presentation, the word to describe this is busy:
[Merriam-Webster]
: full of distracting detail
// a busy design
When a page mixes five different font faces and five different font faces, it's considered to be busy, causing the eye to move back and forth all the time, being unable to clearly focus on one thing or message.
From "PowerPoint: Why less is more" by Dave Johnson:
Experts agree that busy slides are the enemy of comprehension and retention, yet far too many people continue to pack slides with too many details. You might remember a couple of years ago when the U.S. Army declared overwrought PowerPoint slides to be America's No. 1 enemy. Well, busy PowerPoint slides are still a problem, and only you can solve it.
From "5 Foolproof Presentation Layout Ideas You Should Use" by Eugene Cheng:
Using images that are too busy will hinder your viewers from honing in on the information or visuals that matter. Picking images that have blurred backgrounds or a sharp focus on a specific subject can help to reduce noise.
From "7 Design Tips On How To Make An Effective, Beautiful PowerPoint Presentation" at Shutterstock:
Three of the easiest and most effective ways to draw attention to text are: bold, italics, or a change in color. Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that stand out, but use it sparingly. Overstyling can make the slide look busy and distracting.
From "Why Company Logos Suck and How to Fix Them" at The Next Scoop:
A logo should be able to stand on its own. Having too many elements such as different fonts or graphics makes a logo look too busy and difficult to recognize.
Here is an example:
I'd use 'over-advertising'. It's not technically one word but it's packaged like one and it's easily understood.
