Good news for YouTube users, the platform should eliminate certain advertising formats on its videos, some of which were considered very intrusive by Internet users.
Google announced this week that it plans to remove “overlay” ads on YouTube. For those who don’t see what it is, the “overlay” ads take on a semi-transparent format that you can see at the bottom of some videos. Google explains that it will remove them for ” improve the viewer experience and shift engagement to better performing ad formats “.
Starting April 6, this type of advertising will no longer be shown to users. It will also no longer be available as an option in YouTube Studio. The company says it expects ” limited impact for most creators as engagement shifts to other ad formats “.
Also read – YouTube: the “Add to queue” function will arrive on Android and iOS mobiles in early 2023
YouTube will not reduce the number of ads
As one might expect, YouTube does not seem to say that there will be fewer ads in the future on its platform, but simply that it will change the type of format offered. Instead of “overlapping ads,” the company will be moving to other, more user-friendly ad formats, although no specifics were given as to their content. It’s possible that YouTube will simply follow the same formula as on mobile, instead using ads before, in the middle, and at the end of videos, all of which can be skipped.
By Google’s own admission, overlay ads are an old ad format that only plays on desktops and confuses viewers “. Indeed, this type of advertising was sometimes superimposed on the content, thus interfering with it or blocking certain parts.
As explained above, this new change to YouTube ads will not affect smartphone users, as this format only appeared on the desktop website. It’s rare for a major service like YouTube to confirm that some of their advertising disrupts the user experience, andt end up listening to the community to change its approach. While waiting to be able to see the changes made by ourselves, remember that YouTube is also considering charging you to watch videos in better quality.