Most YouTube users would probably agree that YouTube is more enjoyable without ads. Ads that play before, during or after videos on YouTube are seen as a nuisance by many users.
Google’s YouTube Premium subscription does away with ads, but it comes at the cost of $13.99 per month in the United States.
Google announced two changes recently that change advertisement on TV screens. The first promises fewer ad breaks for certain long-form content videos. The change comes at the cost of longer ad breaks.
Google started to test this change in September 2023. It says that the majority of viewers prefer grouped video ads instead of ads that are distributed throughout videos on YouTube.
YouTube TV Ads changes
YouTube will roll out the announced change globally. It applies only to “certain long-form content on connected TVs”. YouTube will also change the information that YouTube displays to users during ad breaks.
Previously, YouTube displayed the number of ads that users can expect to see during the break. The change displays the total playtime of all ads until they can be skipped on the site or until the ad break ends. Not all adverts can be skipped on YouTube.
Ads are coming to YouTube Shorts on the big screen
YouTube users who like to watch Shorts, shorter videos, will start to see advertisement soon. The short video format was launched a little bit over a year ago on the big screen. Google says that it has seen the viewership double in less than a year already.
Google launches Shorts ads globally on YouTube TV. These ads are displayed in-between Shorts videos on the big screen.
According to Google, viewers may use their TV remotes to skip these ads, just like they can do on mobile devices.
Google’s announcement did not include additional details on the change. It is unclear how frequent ads are shown when users watch YouTube Shorts on the big screen.
There are alternatives
Most Smart TVs and media solutions, such as Amazon Fire TV devices , support the installation of third-party apps. There are several YouTube frontends that you may install on your devices that do away with ads and offer other advantages.
You can check out my guide on watching YouTube without ads on Fire TV here.
Installation is not as straightforward as using a connected ad store. It usually requires that you need to download the app from a third-party host, for instance GitHub, and install it manually.
The entire process is not overly complicated, but most may appreciate a step-by-step guide as it eliminates most issues that you may experience.
Closing Words
Google is introducing more ads on YouTube. While it tinkers around with ad formats, playtimes and number, it is clear that ads won’t go away on the site.
Google could make them less obnoxious and time-wasting, but it does not look as if this is going to happen in the near future.
Now You: do you watch videos on YouTube?