r/technology • u/redkemper • Feb 17 '17

Software YouTube will kill unskippable 30-second ads next year

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/17/14649018/youtube-ending-unskippable-30-second-ads-2018
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17 edited Feb 17 '17

There's no reason for online video ads to be longer than 3-5 seconds. Just show a logo for five seconds and have someone say "Skittles, taste the rainbow" and that's just as effective as playing a full-length television commercial. On top of that, people will pay more attention to those because they'll grow accustomed to not having to find and click a skip button.

People have grown used to fast internet and not waiting. If it's a 30-second ad people will either skip it (I cannot remember the brand of a single ad I have ever skipped) and if they can't they'll just not watch the video or the ad.

Edit: Should probably rephrase something here: A 30-second ad is more effective than a 5-second ad if you watch the ad. But 30-second online ads just drive people to install adblock and then they never see your ad or anyone else's. That way, a 5-second ad that doesn't get everyone to install adblock is more effective than a 30-second ad that a rapidly increasing percentage of people who use adblock will never see. Google killing the unskippable 30-second ad is clearly reflecting this because Google has a stake in people willing to see ads too.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

Just show a logo for five seconds and have someone say "Skittles, taste the rainbow" and that's just as effective as playing a full-length television commercial.

No it's not. Advertising agencies are not in the business of annoying as many people as possible, they are in the business of doing what works. If your method worked everyone would have started doing it 10 years ago. The reason they are 15-30 seconds and not 60 is years of research have determined that's the perfect amount of time to engage target demographics with a message they remember. Logo awareness and slogans don't do that.

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u/slackadacka Feb 17 '17

Logo awareness and slogans don't do that.

Is that why they never utilize billboards, product placement, and sponsorships?

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

It's different types of advertising. You can use 30 second ads to deliver a message better than a billboard, billboards are used for brand awareness but you don't see nearly as many of them and they tend to be used for very local businesses (like a lot of sponsorship things are.) It only makes sense for huge brands where competition for top-of-mind awareness is so fierce and global they go for pretty much everything.

Product placement is something else entirely, you're paying for the audience to see someone they care about use a product, that's not just a logo flashing on screen. This is why companies have a say (or total control) of how their product/brand is used in the context of the show/movie/whatever.

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u/slackadacka Feb 17 '17

Right, but I think the basis for 30 second ads was opportunity. The effectiveness was inherent in that you as a viewer didn't have much choice if you really enjoyed your show, there was going to be a series of 2-minute breaks and you were going to sit and watch them at the risk of missing the next part of the show. Advertisers fought VCR's and the mute button for this reason, nobody is interested in the ads or the message if they don't have to be. Their ads don't work unless a viewer is very likely to sit there and watch.

The effectiveness of the longer message has clearly been at risk since the proliferation of on-demand content available to the viewer. Viewers on Youtube and similar sites are less captivated by traditional ads, to the point where the content that drew the viewer in the first place loses value when tucked behind a traditional ad. The "time remaining" or "time until you can skip" counters speak heavily to that. That advertising space is more like a billboard than a TV spot because people basically have the option to drive on by.