YouTube is introducing unskippable ads to TV | Mashable.

YouTube is introducing unskippable ads to TV

Watching ad-free videos is about to get more difficult.

YouTube will soon introduce 30-second unskippable advertisements to its TV viewing experience. The company's top-performing videos will incorporate these ads, instead of seeing two 15-second ads consecutively.

CEO Neal Mohan announced the update(opens in a new tab) at Brandcast 2023(opens in a new tab), saying "more and more, viewers are tuning into YouTube on the biggest screen in their home." In December 2022, 150 million viewers watched YouTube and YouTube TV on televisions in the US. According to the company, YouTube Select(opens in a new tab) – a platform for advertisers to have their content displayed on YouTube – is landing over 70 percent of impressions on the big screen.

YouTube is also testing "pause experiences" on TV screens, so when a user pauses a video, an ad will appear. This feature is similar to what Hulu rolled out in 2019.

This push on advertising comes after a recent crackdown(opens in a new tab) on ad blockers, which essentially encourages users to pay for the ad-free YouTube Premium.

More in YouTube

Comments

  1. You underestimate the power of freedom from humanity. There will have someone in 10 billion people will find a way to bypass youtube ad. It always has been

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  2. It wouldn't be so bad if the ads weren't disruptive to the flow of the video. I watched TV with ads back in the 1980s and it felt natural because the shows timed their stories or live events with ads in mind. Today's YouTube offers little control over how ads are presented, making it jarring to experience.

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  3. Love how we are just going back to regular TV with commercials now. 🙄

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  4. The main reason why I never bought cable service was to avoid watching ads. Who wants to watch a 28 min TV show that has 20 mins of ads?

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  5. Again underestimating the resolve of people not wanting to see their ads. We'll see if the ads are unskipable and for how long 😁

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  6. *laughs in YouTube Premium*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. just watch, they'll start with the ads again

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    2. Wars were fought for less.

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    3. if you're crazy enough

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    4. but your paying for no ads. I would cancel in a heartbeat

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    5. I watch so much YouTube and use the music streaming app it makes it worth it but barely.

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  7. I'd don't mind watching Advertising commercials as long as I'm not paying to use it just like TV in the old days

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  8. You mean like the regular TV nobody watches?

    👍

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  9. TV time, then ads will take 1-2 mins (mandatory). Anyone who use adblocker will be ban, then everyone will need to pay a monthly subscription to even watch youtube videos.

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  10. Bye bye YouTube then.

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  11. Download Adblocker. No more ads!

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  12. Maybe they should fix their own paid plans first.

    I had YouTube Premium and started experiencing crashes of the YouTube app on my Google Pixel phone while casting to my Google Chromecast. Only Google products involved here! Basically every time an ad would have been played on the free plan, the app crashed on the Chromecast device when it was streamed from my logged in YouTube Premium account, making it almost impossible to watch videos. I cancelled Premium and no crashes ever since.

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  13. Unleashed an unspeakable evil
    https://media1.tenor.co/images/1361eb6b9194ea40fe868ab0217b2c69/tenor.gif?c=VjFfZmFjZWJvb2tfd2ViY29tbWVudHM&itemid=8760211

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  14. So… commercials. They have commercials.

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  15. Won’t be long before they implement 3 breaks of 2-3 minutes worth of unskipabble ads.

    Then we’ll be right back to where we started before the “on-demand” revolution made linear tv programming obsolete.

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  16. JAJAJAJAJAAAAAAAAA
    Algunos morirán con esto

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  17. If only there was a way to permanently stop this. I’m not interested and yet you keep showing me this with every article.

    https://imgur.com/a/JCJ6RnC

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  18. Naaaaa es fácil ver youtube sin comerciales y no pagar ni ún centavo. 😂😂😂😂

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  19. If it becomes more like Tv. I probably stop watching. Since the algorithms are not letting people be surprisingly… informed! To knew information, just too much ado about entertainers, I’m really not interested, to what they are up too! So…..

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  20. They will die like social media /Facebook!

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  21. When some ads run for 30 to 60 minutes, making them unskippable is just a crime

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  22. This sounds about right. I’ve been a subscriber to YTP since it was first avail. This recent price hike was hard to swallow. On to the TV front I can’t believe I’m actually starting to miss traditional TV. I loved my Dish Hopper back in the day. I’ve had YTTV for 4 years now and initially it was pretty great. Recently I’ve noticed on multiple recordings that somehow my “DVR” version disappears on my recordings I have and only the VOD version will be available in which of course I can’t skip the ads.

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  23. “pause experiences”

    Nah. You can't call it something fancy when we all know what it is.

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  24. No problems at all. This, paired with the announcement they are starting to ban adblockers means it is time for me to cut YouTube from my life. Sorry, this is not worth $12/month and it is unusable as it is.

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  25. these idiots should have included Youtube premium with YouTubeTV.

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  26. That's jank. I pause videos to take phone calls during work. Are they going to ban me from controlling the volume next? Anyway, download the AdBlock for YouTube extension for Chrome.

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  27. "The beatings will continue until morale improves!!!!"

    I didn't mind the ads that youtube put up a few years ago. Now youtube music makes you listen to some before any songs, and youtube videos are half ads and half sponsored segments. That's before considering that half of the content is paid and/or fake.

    Ad blockers, and I now also have a no-detect-adblockers extension too. And I use spotify free on my google homes.

    Also, alternative youtube clients that discard the ads are pretty good. Some block ads AND sponsored segments.

    $12-20 for a sub isn't happening in this household.

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  28. Ok, who wants to help me import Youtube videos on a separate non ad-filled website?

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    Replies
    1. Do it, but facing fines doesn't sound pretty.

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    2. Ehh... I can always use ads to pay for those. 😉

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  29. Lol, didn’t someone already bring unskippable ads to TV? In like the 50s?

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  30. This is a prime example why we can’t have nice things, people are complaining because a free video streaming platform is trying to make money so that creators get paid!
    Now YouTube offers a premium subscription if you want to avoid ads altogether, but no people want to consume content for FREE!!!
    And then they will complain because these ad companies resort to more agressive user tracking.

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  31. Ahem SmartTubeNext

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    Replies
    1. I'm looking into that. Thanks.

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  32. I'm surprised more people don't sub to YouTube Premium, it's like one of my only must-haves. I'll never go back.

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    Replies
    1. I just wish they'd offer it without YouTube Music for a cheaper price. I don't need YTM. Since they offer YTM for $10 or YT Premium for $12, just lemme have ad-free YouTube for $2 or $3 please.

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    2. well no youtube premium is $12 because of bundle with YT music.
      if they were to give premium standalone that would be realistically $7 to $9

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    3. yeah that's fair. YTM is okay as far as being able to upload music to it, but I've been a Spotify person for years and probably will remain so.

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    4. Because I'm not going to pay $12/mo just to remove the ads.

      "But you also get YouTube Music". Not going to use it.
      "But you also get background playing." Never been in this situation where I'd want that.
      "But you can download videos for offline use." Same as above. Never been in that kind of situation.

      Now if Google were to offer me just the ad free part for like $5/mo, I'd be more inclined to do it.

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    5. I'm grandfathered into the old Google Play Music plan for early adopters. $8 per month. It's kind of amazing that Google keeps letting us have it after all these years. I watch about as much YouTube on my TV than any other streaming service. It's maybe the best $8 I spend every month.

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    6. Shh. Don't talk about the grandfathered $8 deal. You'll jinx it and they'll jack up the rate (like they did with the family plan).

      Delete
    7. It's also ridiculous that premium's not baked into a YouTube TV subscription.

      Delete
  33. Well onto something new. I refuse to have yet another irritation shoved down my throat. They refuse to give your brain even 5 seconds of est. This is mental slavery and abuse!! SEE YA!

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  34. Sideloading SmarTube next... done. It was the first thing I researched cause those ads are already disturbing. Much worse than in the browser even.

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  35. YouTube is out of control. So many damn ads

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  36. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  37. This just makes me more determined to:

    Use YouTube less and less
    Use a proper PC connected to the TV in the future home.

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  38. Video streaming is quickly becoming worse than the legacy TV media it was replacing. Even worse for countries that have had historically less frequent advertising on TV but now we have to suffer through the same crappy advert-every-few-minutes standard like in the USA.

    More great benefits from the eternal need/desire of growth for shareholder profits, I guess.

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    Replies
    1. Would love if counties started enforcing their ad limits on YouTube. It will never happen (because why would national governments bother/care) but would be great to remind YouTube not everyone is American and used to seeing so many adverts.

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  39. Pichai: "We screwed up again on AI, so just dial up the ad thing again and nobody will notice my weak leadership for another earnings report."

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    Replies
    1. Even though Youtube is owned by Alphabet, it has it's on CEO whose in charge of the day to day business affairs. It's also why you don't see other Google services with as many Ads/Adverts as Youtube. For example Gmail, there are subtle in-line adds but nothing as obnoxious or in your face as Youtube where they will literally interrupt you in the middle of the one thing you've come to their site for in order to sell you junk. Could you imagine reading or writing an email and a full-screen popup appears asking you to try out HelloFresh? Even worse, imagine that having a countdown on it before you could dismiss it.

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    2. I mean, this isn't really fair. YouTube and video streaming as a whole would cost substantially more to run than Gmail or any of their other services. Of course it's going to get more ads. More cost needs more revenue to offset

      This honestly could be the breaking point for me on a lot of YT content that I don't really need and just wastes my time but I just want to point out the issue with your comparison

      Delete
  40. I pay to not see ads but lots of channels show ads anyway. They have the freedom to do so.

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    Replies
    1. Sponsorblock is your friend! I pay for Premium to not have have ads and I'd very much like to keep it that way. If I'm interested in sponsored content I can check the video description on my own, thank you very much.

      Delete
    2. I refuse to believe that X many people all happen to find SquareSpace, Raycon and Express/Nord VPNs a great value add to their life :P

      Delete
  41. Things like this make me wish there was a viable competitor to YouTube.

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    Replies
    1. Many of the creators I follow also publish on Nebula, which is ad free for a very low monthly fee that's also shared with the documentary platform Curiositystream. I just wish they had a webOS app for LG TVs instead of having me Airplay it from my phone.

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    2. Yeah there's a channel I watch that is on that and mentions it often and it looks interesting but likewise I'd like it as an app unto itself as I watch YouTube on the TV rather than on a computer.

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    3. Nebula does have an app on several streaming platforms. I get it included with my CuriosityStream sub but you can get it as a standalone service as well.

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    4. Those are great services you can them cheap also. I pay $20 a year for both you can find good sales and look for creators on YouTube having that promo price if you sign up through their link in the description.

      Delete

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