Advertising is the lube that allows the giant cogs of the internet to move freely. The more the better, in their perspective.
YouTube is known for being the largest video-streaming platform of its kind, ever. And since more and more people are tuning in to YouTube to watch their favorite influencers and channels, the increasing number of minutes spent on the platform allows Google to put even more ads, because it knows it can.
This time, in a twist of fate, Google is having an idea of introducing an ad format that can change viewing experience for good.
Instead of the usual ads people get when they're not paying for Premium each month, the platform wants to show viewers 30-second advertisements that simply can’t be skipped.
Normally, YouTube shows ads that are seconds long, or scattered throughout a video.
This time, Google is combining them into one super long, full-blown ad.
"Instead of seeing two 15 seconds ads consecutively, they’ll see one 30 seconds ad," explained Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle, VP of YouTube Ads Marketing on a post on YouTube blog.
Making things worse for users (who detest ads), if they choose to pause a video to go use the bathroom, or cook some food, or just to take a break, the ad can still intervene in the pause screen.
Another way of saying it, users have no way of avoiding this ad campaign.
However, YouTube knows how users have an extremely high tendencies to not see ads, because they're ads.
This is the main reason why it gave users that life-saving skip ad button.
But because the 30-second long YouTube ad on TVs are designed to be unskippable, Google is not entirely cruel for not giving users any workaround.
So here, YouTube is allowing users to not see the ad in their entire TV screen, at least when the video is paused.
In what it calls the "Pause Experiences," YouTube can show ads that are shown to the right of the video, which can be shrunk down to a large thumbnail while the rest of the display shows a static ad with a QR code or some other information.
"When we talk with creators, they want access to lots of different kinds of formats – everything from 15-second Shorts to 15-hour livestreams," said Neal Mohan, who took over as CEO of YouTube earlier this year after Susan Wojcicki segued to a consulting role in February.
"Bringing all of these formats together in one place draws more creators to YouTube, which means more fans come to watch, which drives engagement for all of you."
It's worth noting that the unskippable ads are only shown on users who don't have a Premium subscription.
Also, it should be noted that the ad format should only appear on YouTube on internet-connected TVs, and only during top-performing content, appearing on 5% of its most-viewed and most-engaged videos.
Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle said that the ad format "seamlessly fits into what viewers already expect and experience on the big screen."
Google plans to show these unskippable ads, initially to YouTube users in the U.S.