YouTube has announced, via its official Creator Insider channel, that they are allowing more non-skippable ads to channels that already monetise videos.
At first this feature has only been available to a select few content creators as an option that they could experiment with. Now YouTube are offering this option to everyone in the YouTube Partner Program. The idea is that creators will have the ability to earn more money. However, reading the comments insinuates that many see this as a distraction from the real issue that YouTube is keeping the lion’s share in the first place.
Will this mean we will have to watch lengthy ads on YouTube?
Presently, a full length, non-skippable commercial on Youtube has a maximum length of 15 to 20 seconds. Usually we only have to wait 5 seconds to hit the ‘Skip Ad’ button, so this will mean 3 to 4 times the wait until we can view the content.
Some creators are saying non-skippable ads make them less money as people bail out of the video entirely. Our guess is that YouTube is not trying to make this an overnight success. This is part of a long term progression which will have us soon used to seeing ads all the time. We will become indoctrinated. Unlike TV channels there is no remote control, we will be like a rabbit caught in the headlights unable to look away.
How will non-skippable YouTube ads affect the creative industry?
There has been a massive shift in advertising budgets to websites in the last 20 years. Recently, that has moved into the more niche areas of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Google has more and more given ranking preference to sites with video. Not because it offers a better experience, but because it offers them yet another way to line their pockets. For the video production businesses this has meant they have had to adapt.
We ourselves have had to retune our old TV commercial brains and adapt them to creating watchable content for our clients’ YouTube Channels. Now with the resurgence of the traditional commercial, we should see a further shift back to video based promotions.
With the viewer unable to ‘Skip Ad’ they will effectively see themselves in a world pre-remote control. The ad no longer has a central focus to entertain in order to stop you changing channel, it will simply have to sell, sell, sell.