Do you like watching YouTube on your smart TV? Well, bad news for you because the company is planning to put longer unskippable ads, even when your video is paused. Well, starting with the Americans first.
From YouTube's announcement about Highlights from Brandcast 2023, it was reported that more advertisers want a piece of the pie due to the massive amount of viewership on YouTube. With this, YouTube is transitioning from two 15-second ads consecutively to a 30-second unskippable ad to YouTube Select on CTV.
This sounds wonderful for advertisers and marketers but not so much for YouTube users. Moreover, YouTube is bringing a new Pause ad feature to CTV, where if you pause your YouTube video, an ad will pop out playing no matter what. Do take note that this is starting in the US for now.
Another thing to note is that this new ads strategy is for people who have YouTube TV (read more about it here, it's not the same thing as having YouTube on a smart TV). To date, YouTube TV (and YouTube itself) has reached over 150 million US citizens on connected TVs. According to the Nielsen Gauge Report, YouTube is the most watched streaming service for TV in the US.
While it hasn't affected Malaysia yet, the time would come eventually just like the increased price for the YouTube Premium Family package of RM33.90 per month. The only way to skip those annoying ads is by subscribing to YouTube Premium on your TV.
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