On the Internet, it's a literal attack on your machine (slows the page down, incurs extra bandwidth, and can inject malware). :D

TV commercials back in tha day didn't have any of that, although nowadays they can play ultrasonic sounds that apps on your phone listen for to facilitate analytic tracking.[0]

0: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-th...