Sunday, February 19, 2017

YouTube Nixes 30-Second Unskippable Ads

In my blog 4, I wrote about why the current video Ad formats will change to shorter format; I used YouTube as an example and the fact that people don’t like viewing the Ads and usually skip them. Last week YouTube announced that they will nix the 30-second unskippable Ads by 2018 and replace them with shorter format. As much as I would like to claim that my blog influenced YouTube’s strategy change, exploding mobile video viewing is the main driver behind this strategy. Several advertisers have already adopted the short format video Ads; for example, Geico plays a 10 second Ad on YouTube and you see the brand placement immediately. I think Geico’s Ads are very clever, their advertisement actually says that you can’t skip the Ad because the Ad just ended. This is a great example of an advertiser that is aware of the fact that people don’t like to view ads. Most other advertisers on YouTube have not adopted the shorter version and product / brand is not even displayed before people skip the Ad. That’s just a waste of money with no ROI – they still have to pay to YouTube because the Ad was played, but don’t get any ROI because people skipped the Ad and don’t even what the product / brand was.


By 2021 78% of world’s mobile data traffic will be videos. Advertisers and marketing companies that understand that 30 second Ad, as short as it may be, is too long, and quickly adopt the shorter Ad formats like Geico, will benefit the most. 

No comments: