Hate ads on YouTube that are half a minute long with absolutely no way for you to skip it? The good news is that Google will finally stop showing such ads by 2018 but the bad news is, ads that are less than 30-second long, including 20-second long ads, can still be made unskippable.
According to Campaign, YouTube wants to give users a “better experience” on its ads. Instead of showing 30-second long ads that can’t be skipped, it will replace it with other formats such as the 6-second Bumper ads that was first introduced about a year ago. Google believes that Bumper ads can help reach out to more consumers as it is “ideal for driving incremental reach and frequency, especially on mobile, where “snackable videos” perform well”.
“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 told Campaign.
As a consumer, this is definitely a welcome change because let’s face it, who like ads, especially when you’re probably not even interested in the product or service at all. According to industry analysts who spoke with Campaign, advertisers will not be pleased with this, but this is something YouTube has to do in order to stay competitive.
“YouTube realises that consumers don’t like unskippable ads. At the end of the day, if you’re doing creative work that will engage right form the start, you haven’t got to worry too much” – Andrew Peake, managing director of VCCP, an integrated creative agency.
“I’m reading this as a signal that YouTube is very worried about Facebook. We know that the video is right at the very core of Facebook’s roadmap. Their video offering is becoming ever more attractive to brands by the day, and YouTube is panicking.” – Callum McCahon, strategy director for Born Social.
