YouTube to Ditch 30-Second Unskippable Ad Format in 2018

Google has announced that it is planning to ditch the 30-second unskippable advertisement format on YouTube, which show up right before a video starts, from next year onwards. The company is reportedly looking at other formats to present ads that can work well for both advertisers and the viewers.

The search giant has decided to kill the 30-second unskippable ads in order to provide a better advertising experience to the online users, Google said in a statement to Campaign. "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," Google spokesperson was quoted as saying in the Campaign report.

It is important to note that this statement doesn't mean that the company will move away from the unskippable ads format altogether.

Advertisements that are shorter than 30 seconds, including 20-second spots can be made unskippable, Campaign points out in its report. Users can expect

more six-second "bumper" ads, introduced last year in April, from the company going forward considering that it is moving away from the longer advertisement format.

It seems like YouTube has realised that the unskippable advertisements with long duration can often cause frustration among users and result in bad experience online. As it is a consumer-centric approach, it is definitely a welcome move. However, advertisers are unlikely to be pleased by the company's latest strategy. Considering that Facebook has recently focused heavily on videos and platforms like Snapchat are becoming hugely popular, YouTube might need to be on its toes to remain the preferred video-platform among users going ahead.