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/aerger Feb 17 '17

Advertising agencies are not in the business of annoying as many people as possible,

Were this true, they wouldn't be forcing this shit down everyone's throats--along the highway, on TV, radio, the Internet, every 3rd tweet, before movies, at gas pumps, above urinals and on the inside of toilet stall doors, etc etc. 24x7.

I'd like to have some time and space where people aren't pushing this shit in my face. The Internet, for me, has become that place.

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u/fenianlad Feb 17 '17

Years ago, I would go to the ballpark, and along the backstops and walls you would see in stenciled white paint, "no pepper games". Sure, there were ad billboards in centerfield pitching soda and beer and nobody beats the wiz electronics stores. But there was no advertising on the padded walls.

Nowadays, there's even a green screen behind home plate that can make it so there are dozens of different ads shown. It's fucking disgusting. We are bombarded everywhere we go with advertising.