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YouTube Will Kill Unskippable 30-Second Ads Next Year (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the doing-away-with-things dept.

YouTube is planning to do away with the non-skippable 30-second ads that appear before a YouTube video. From a report: In a statement first given to Campaign then confirmed by The Verge, a Google spokesperson said the company will focus on commercial formats that are more engaging for both advertisers and viewers. "We're committed to providing a better ads experience for users online. As part of that, we've decided to stop supporting 30-second unskippable ads as of 2018 and focus instead on formats that work well for both users and advertisers," Google said.

1 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. It's the right choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    30 second ads are a holdover from the days of non-dvr TV. I honestly love the 5 second ads that they are using now. It's enough time to show your product and your brand.

    I have high hopes that the "irritate the viewer into submission" approach to advertising is slowly on the way out. Especially on a platform like YouTube, you aren't even competing for the user's attention. You don't need to grab attention, you already have it. If you irritate the viewer, you get :
    1) actual negative reactions to your brand instead of positive
    2) ad blockers which damage the viability of the entire platform
    3) users muting the audio or putting the phone down until the ad is over in case they are using a platform where there is no viable ad blocker
    4) users abandoning the video instead of suffering through the ad

    Bottom line is that long, annoying, unskippable ads are counterproductive, but I think #2 is why they are being done away with. I would be amazed if Google isn't tracking and very aware of the damage caused by user reactions #2 and #4.

    Just as a personal anecdote, I can remember the names of every brand that shows me a 5 second ad, a few that show skippable long ads, and absolutely zero that show annoying unskippable ones (because I always put the phone down as soon as I see that one is starting). A five second ad isn't long enough to be worth muting or putting the phone down. Crucially, I don't hate the brands in question - but only because the short ads are generally not very annoying. Even in the cases when I don't want the product, I still remember the ad in a more or less positive way.