Depending on the length of the video you are watching on YouTube, you’ll likely see one ad before the video starts, one (or a few if it’s a long video) in the middle, and another when the video ends. The streaming service is now experimenting with having two ads back-to-back at the start so that it can remove the one(s) in the middle.
This double ad pre-roll is being called “ad pods.” Name aside, YouTube decided to test this out because it realized that not putting an intrusive ad in the middle of content results in up to an 11% increase in reach, as well as up to 10% increase in frequency for advertisers.
This is likely because when an ad is not interrupting the flow of a video, people are less likely to mash the skip button. Assuming the ad is skippable in the first place, that is.
And with the ad pods, it would also mean that viewers will experience up to 40% fewer interruptions. In other words, it’s a win-win for consumers and advertisers alike.
Meanwhile, there’s the option to skip both ads at the beginning but if you choose to do that, then you’ll be putting the mid-roll ad back in. The new ad pods will first go to desktop browsers, and then to mobile and TV apps.
(Source: Google)
