YouTube has just announced the addition of another ad. And you will watch it.
Yes, it’s another YouTube ad, like there weren’t enough already. But this one is entirely different: YouTube is calling its latest addition a ‘bumper ad,’ which will last six-seconds and can’t be skipped.
Google designed these new ads for smartphone users (roughly half of 18-49 year olds watch videos on their mobile devices). The platform recently discovered that most people using their smartphones tend to skip through the ads as quickly as the service allows them to. So, in order to get people to actually watch the ads in full, they’ve shortened them down to six-seconds.
With the addition of these shorter ads, YouTube aims to reduce the frustration of impatient video watchers who currently have to click ‘skip’ before being able to watch their favorite video. After all, it’s just six seconds.
The most frustrating thing that the majority of people currently have with YouTube is the ads, with large numbers now blocking ads entirely (and killing royalties in the process). Some videos currently don’t even have the option to skip the 30-second ad at all, which is the most-annoying thing about YouTube for music listeners.
The shorter spots could help advertisers reach their audience more effectively, as people will be more willing to sit through a six-second ad than 30-seconds. That also goes for music companies promoting fresh content. But, it’s important to note that this new six-second bumper ad is being rolled out in addition to all the other ads currently running on the service, it’s not replacing them.
(Image by Rego Korosi, Creative Commons, Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, cc by-sa 2.0)
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