The YouTube ads tug of war continues on between platform owner Google and its users. This time, it’s over unrealistically long ads that are also unskippable. Some users have taken to Reddit to share of ads without the Skip button which are nearly an hour in length, and some well over two hours.
Android Authority reported on such posts, with one user showing a photo of a YouTube ad being 57:57 in length, and another displaying a 2:52:16-long ad. While there is no indication at all as to why the first one had no option to skip it, the second one shows a “skipping ads” dialogue box on the lower left corner of the screen. This hints at an ad blocker of some sort being used, but not working properly, and ended up blocking the skip button rather than the ad itself.
The report also noted having reached out to Google to inquire on the upper limit of YouTube’s ad length. In response, the statement provided by the internet search giant sounds like it sidestepped the question entirely, as nothing in it addresses the length of ads or why they cannot be skipped past a certain duration.
Instead, the statement reiterates what most users already know: normal ads that cannot be skipped are limited to 15 seconds in length. There’s also the mention of YouTube reserving the right to disable playback, not mentioning the three-strikes rule previously announced.
With all that in mind, the report speculates that the long ads are an example of disabling playback for adblock users. Though it’s unclear if the users who shared their experiences had faced the three-strikes warning before getting to these immensely long ads.
(Source: Reddit [1], [2], Android Authority)
