We have good and bad news if you’re among the many who enjoy watching YouTube on a big-screen TV. YouTube will soon start delivering longer ads, which no one wants. However, the good news is you’ll experience fewer interruptions as the company won’t show as many.
In a quick announcement this week, YouTube’s Director of Product Management for Ads, Romana Pawar, confirmed that the company wants to deliver a “better streaming experience” with fewer ad breaks. That way, you won’t constantly have to deal with ads at the beginning, during, and after watching content on the platform. But when you do see an ad, it’ll be longer than usual.
While explaining the change, YouTube said, “79% of viewers would prefer video ads that are grouped together instead of distributed throughout a video.” And based on that preference, fewer but longer ads are now rolling out around the globe.
YouTube started testing the change earlier this year and is now rolling it out to all TVs. The countdown timer in the bottom corner of the screen during ad breaks will be longer, but at least you won’t have to deal with it as frequently. And yes, you’ll still be able to skip ads, but you’ll need to wait longer than the usual 5-10 seconds. To be clear, this is for the YouTube app on a smart TV, Roku streaming devices, Google TV, and similar devices, not your smartphone.
I’m okay with this change as it means fewer interruptions when watching longer videos on YouTube. However, the announcement also confirmed the company is expanding ads to YouTube Shorts on TV. Like watching Shorts on your phone or tablet, you’ll now see skippable ads between Shorts on the television.
No one likes ads, so many have turned to ad blockers, but Google quickly started fighting those. If you’d like to enjoy YouTube ad-free, consider subscribing to YouTube Premium.
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