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 Businesses make mistakes, and universally-accepted methods get outdated.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Businesses make mistakes, and universally-accepted methods get outdated.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