One of the most disliked features of YouTube will be a goner. The unskippable 30-second ads are set to be replaced by other formats by 2018.
The popular video-sharing website came upon the decision to remove the 30-second unskippable ads by next year in its effort to "provide better advertising experience for online users." YouTube also announced that it will instead rain its sights on formats that will be beneficial for both advertisers and users.
The news was first revealed to Campaign which noted that the move will have both positive and negative implications. On the positive side, experts thought the move is a logical one. Consumers will no longer have to deal with the annoyance of having to wait 30 seconds before they can continue with the task at hand. Andrew Peake, managing director of VCCP, an integrated creative agency, stressed that doing creative work involves being engaged from start to finish. Having to wait for ads to finish will affect an artist's work in some way.
The negative aspect of the removal of the 30-second ads focuses mainly on the advertisers themselves. Less airtime for their ads mean less promotion of their products and services. Advertisements are important sources of revenues for businesses such as YouTube but it is willing to change its policies just to please its users and keep them watching.
While the 30-second ads will be ditched, YouTube will still incorporate ads in their service albeit shorter ones. As a matter of fact, YouTube already introduced a shorter format back in April 2016. The Verge reported that the six-second bumper ad format is still unskippable but is far less annoying and time-consuming than the current format. The company still plans to have 15- and 20-second ads.
YouTube is recently tweaking its services to provide better experiences to its clients. Recently, the video-sharing platform introduced 4K livestreaming and the Super Chat beta mode.
