YouTube on TV Will Now Show Fewer But Longer Ad Breaks
- Laurent Giret
- Dec 15, 2023
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Google is changing how it’s displaying ads on its YouTube apps on TVs. On long videos, users who don’t pay for YouTube Premium will now see fewer, but longer ad breaks.
The YouTube team has been testing these changes to the ad experience on TV since September. And the company did some user research and found out that the majority of YouTube viewers on TV actually prefer an ad experience that’s more TV-like.
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“In early testing of fewer, longer ad breaks on connected TVs, over half of YouTube CTV streamers experienced 29% longer viewing sessions before their next ad break,” Google said yesterday, citing internal data from October 2023.
In addition to fewer but longer ad breaks, the YouTube apps on TV will also start showing a countdown indicating when the break will end and when users can skip it. “Our research also shows a majority of viewers prefer knowing the total time remaining in the ad break versus the number of ads being served,” Google explained.
Lastly, the TikTok-like YouTube Short videos, which according to Google saw their views increase by more than 100% between January and September, will soon start showing ads on TVs. The company said that users will be able to skip them with just a press of a button, similar to how users can tap away from YouTube Shorts ads on the YouTube mobile apps.