Over the years, advertisements have crept into the YouTube experience as a way to support creators financially and maintain the platform. However, it appears like YouTube is now going above and beyond with its advertising, playing up to 10 non-skippable adverts in a row.
According to 9to5 Google, YouTube has given a statement in this regard informing that this experiment with advertisements has now “concluded”.
On YouTube, commercial breaks generally show before the start of a video as well as throughout it if the creator permits it. These breaks can typically last a few seconds or a few minutes, but longer adverts typically offer the option to skip that ad after a certain amount of time.
Some YouTube users have noticed that, over the past few months, the number and length of adverts on the site have significantly increased, especially for unskippable formats.
Some Twitter users recently took to Twitter to mention, or rather claim that the application showed them breaks with as many as 10 ads in a row that can’t be skipped.
9to5 Google further reports that these longer breaks seem to be happening more frequently lately, though not with all films or with all viewers. Users with about five ads every break are more common than users with ten ads per break.
However, the positive news is that these commercials aren’t very long. According to user accounts, these adverts are typically about five or six seconds long. As a result, even an ad break with 10 unskippable ads would last only about 60 seconds.
9to5 Google spoke to the Youtube spokesperson who revealed that the expanded number of ads was a part of a “small experiment” that has since “concluded.”
He said, “At YouTube, we’re focused on helping brands connect with audiences around the world, and we’re always testing new ways to surface ads that enhance the viewer experience. We ran a small experiment globally that served multiple ads in an ad pod when viewers watched longer videos on connected TVs. The goal is to build a better experience for viewers by reducing ad breaks. We have concluded this small experiment.”