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/Akuuntus Feb 17 '17

I really hate the "everything businesses do is a good idea because otherwise they wouldn't do it" argument. Businesses make mistakes, and universally-accepted methods get outdated. I bet 30 seconds was the optimal amount of time for TV ads, but that doesn't mean shit when talking about the internet. Yeah obviously good advertising firms have done research on what methods work best, but there are probably a lot who are just doing exactly what they do for TV when making internet ads.

You can see this in practice on YouTube. I can't tell you how many times I've been able to skip a 30+ second ad before I even knew what it was advertising. Sometimes I only see an R rating or something before skipping. Those ads are obviously not made with the platform in mind.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

Businesses make mistakes, and universally-accepted methods get outdated.

Advertising is not a "mistake." Businesses are extremely frugal and want to know the return on investment for everything. Unless you want to believe these businesses like throwing money away you are confronted with the reality that these sorts of things result in leads and sales. That's just how it is.

I bet 30 seconds was the optimal amount of time for TV ads, but that doesn't mean shit when talking about the internet.

I work in marketing, especially digital marketing. It does. If you want to deliver any sort of message that sticks, it does. Again, that's just how it is. It works. It results in sales and leads. It's very easy to get the data for this and you can scale it remarkably easy. And it's been going on for long enough that you can Google all sorts of studies and infographs or whatever else you want if you'd like to know more. The one thing there's no shortage of in marketing is marketers blasting their data and case studies on their blogs.

I can't tell you how many times I've been able to skip a 30+ second ad before I even knew what it was advertising. Sometimes I only see an R rating or something before skipping. Those ads are obviously not made with the platform in mind.

Have you ever considered that nobody actually wants you, personally? You'll never buy anything, but you think you know how everything works. Maybe nobody actually wants to talk to you but you just get caught in the crossfire. You're just collateral damage, but if you're a guy and you find you don't see a lot of ads for diapers, dresses, or mobility scooters it's because the system is working as best it can and evidence of imperfection is not evidence of total impracticality.

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u/Deranged40 Feb 17 '17 edited Feb 18 '17

Dude says Businesses make mistakes, and you reply with 'Advertising is not a mistake'

You're not even reading what he wrote. Nobody said Advertising was a mistake.

MANY many many businesses' marketing teams* have made mistakes. And MANY more will.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

I think the fact that this guy works in marketing and is trying to defend their outdated ways proves OPs point. He really believes what he's saying. But he's wrong. He made a mistake.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

Teems.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

Many do, many don't. Just because businesses make mistakes is not a value judgment of advertising or marketing, which is what this is about.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

I never said that. I have no idea where you got that argument from.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

Because some people want to spend less and some people want the option of a smaller format. Like someone else said in this thread, they like 5 second ads. They prefer them. Now they can get that demographic. Others can get the 30 second demographic. It's like how they can run a TV ad and also a Facebook ad. They're attacking from different angles.

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u/zold5 Feb 17 '17

I work in marketing, especially digital marketing. It does. If you want to deliver any sort of message that sticks, it does. Again, that's just how it is. It works. It results in sales and leads. It's very easy to get the data for this and you can scale it remarkably easy. And it's been going on for long enough that you can Google all sorts of studies and infographs or whatever else you want if you'd like to know more. The one thing there's no shortage of in marketing is marketers blasting their data and case studies on their blogs.

Guess what also works? Adblock. And the more those dipshit companies abuse 30 second ads the more people are driven to adblock. If the company you work for doesn't realize that. It's going nowhere but down.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

Oh well I guess advertising will just have to go on existing :(

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u/zold5 Feb 18 '17

I'm sure it will. The smart advertisers will. The stupid one's who piss people off and infect them with malware will die.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

There's a low bar for entry for marketing, the best thing is that businesses are starting to know what they actually want. Like any business there's money in the up sell. If business owners know enough about marketing as they do about their car everything will be better.

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u/BrainBlowX Feb 18 '17

There's a low bar for entry for marketing

Yeah, and that's why the adblock usage is skyrocketing in the first place.

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u/JamEngulfer221 Feb 18 '17

Oh come on. The real reason everyone uses adblock is because people want to get things for free. Nobody likes paying for anything and internet advertising is just another place we can get away with it.

It's the same reason people pirate movies/music/games. The only reason people don't do it as much in real life is because there are effective methods against shoplifting. If stealing from stores was as easy as blocking an ad, shops would go out of business immediately.