Does Gmail still show ads?

[ergophobe]

I ask because I saw a pitch for G Suite that said "Ad-free experience" and I thought "I don't remember seeing ads in Gmail in ages."

I opened up three plain old free Google email accounts (legacy Google Apps and regular GMail) and opened emails like Motorola trying to get me to buy a cell phone, Evergreen Lodge trying to get me to book lodging and so on. In other words, I opened emails that *should* have all the signals needed to match me with advertisers.

No ads.

UBlock Origin and Privacy Badger are off.

Has Google given up on Gmail ads? Are there just no buyers? Theresa was looking into it recently and I know the clicks were cheap. I don't know if she launched any. I'll have to ask her when she gets in.

[Rupert]

The answer is certainly yes in the UK on mobile. 
Just checked desktop... I have none, but I buy Google cloud space.

[Rumbas]

Yup, and it can be pretty effective. Cheap too.

[ergophobe]

>>Cheap too.

That's what Theresa said. The fact that I don't get them made me wonder why and made me wonder if there's just very little bidding compared to the search ads marketplace.

[I, Brian]

For me: On desktop, Gmail shows ads under the Social, and Promotions tabs only.