Google has just announced to scrap off the most annoying feature of YouTube - the unskippable 30-second ads. According to reports, the old format with the ads will be replaced by other formats by 2018. Google came upon this decision to stop allowing unskippable preroll ads in order to "provide better advertising experience for online users."
"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," said a Google spokesperson, according to Campaign.
While it will be great to get rid of the most unpopular ad format, it isn't entirely a rosy picture.
Google has also made it clear that the 15 and 20-second ads will still continue and the company will be making heavier use of so-called bumper-ads, i.e., the six-second ads.
On the positive side, now the users will not have to wait for 30 seconds before they can continue with their task in hand. However, it will affect the advertisers, as 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.
As per some industry experts, YouTube took this step solely in response to the increased video competition from Facebook.
According to 9to5Google, one expert said "I'm reading this as a signal that YouTube is very worried about Facebook," said Callum McCahon, strategy director for Born Social. "We know that 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."
YouTube is recently tweaking its services to provide better experiences to its clients, as well. Recently, the video-sharing platform introduced 4K livestreaming and the Super Chat beta mode.
