GoKawiilMegan Ellis / Android Authority
YouTube now serves unskippable 30-second ads on its TV app, in what feels like another escalation in its war against free users. The TV app is also the place where users have the least control over their ad experience, making the change feel particularly egregious.
After taking a long break from YouTube due to its annoying ads, I dived back into the videos of some of my favorite creators over the past few weeks. But this change is threatening to chase me right back off the app entirely.
What do you think of unskippable 30-second ads on YouTube's TV app? 6295 votes I'm fine with this 2 % I hate this 70 % I don't care, I have YouTube Premium/Premium Lite 19 % I don't care, I use a third-party app or VPN 9 %
YouTube’s 30-second ads worsen an already terrible experience
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Creators need to get paid, and I understand that. It’s why I watch the sponsored segments of videos rather than skipping ahead and deal with ads in a variety of free services. But YouTube’s ads are a masterclass in how to make the experience as unpleasant as possible.
There was a time when YouTube only featured a few ads, and they were minimally intrusive. But as the years have gone by, ads became longer and more frequent, with the ability to skip them limited in various ways.
Now you will see a 15-second ad before you even see any content from the video you want to watch. Longer videos include unskippable ads of up to one minute. While those of us who grew up with traditional TV broadcasts will remember that ad breaks lasted longer than this, they felt less intrusive.
YouTube's ads feel more intrusive than the TV adverts of the old broadcasting era.
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