Posted in: Games, Video | Tagged: youtube

Tired Of YouTube's 30-Second Ads? They're Going Away… Next Year

Published Sat, 18 Feb 2017 13:45:51 -0600

The praises of millions of YouTube viewers have slightly been answered as it was announced yesterday that Google will finally be ending the tyranny on our streaming souls that is the unskippable 30-second ads. But don't get excited just yet, the change doesn't come until 2018.

In a statement that was originally given to Campaign (and later confirmed by The Verge), Google explained: "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." While this may sound like excellent news, hold on for a moment, it's only the 30-second ads. The shorter timed ads aren't going anywhere as they're usually location-specific and are ideal for local ads, and the company actually makes a killing off 60-second ads with bigger advertisers like movie companies who use them to do extended trailers.

The unskippable ads have been a sore spot and a source for online vitriol from viewers of the free online video service, as there's no option to skip after an initial period of time has passed. It's been likened to Hulu's service, the only difference being if you subscribe to YouTube Red you don't receive ads of any kind, where Hulu still makes you sit through them even after you pay. Also, keep in mind that this isn't instantaneous, we need to wait out another year as many ad companies who have signed up for the service still have contracts that need to run their course.

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