Unskippable 30-second ads will no longer play before YouTube videos, starting in 2018.
In a statement to The Drum, a Google spokesperson said the company wishes to focus instead on more engaging formats with shorter lengths, stating: “We’re committed to providing a better ad experience for users online. 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.”
Eva Tuckman, PPC director at performance agency ROAST, said that the creation of more ‘bumper’ ad formats will help YouTube, noting that “unskippable ads have generally always had higher video view abandonment rates, as consumers can then decide that the video they’re about to watch is not worth 30 seconds of advertising”.
However, unskippable ads won’t go away altogether. YouTube introduced unskippable six-second bumper ads back in April 2016, and the 15- and 20-second full advertisements will remain on the site.
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