YouTube will soon introduce 30-second unskippable advertisements to its TV viewing experience. The company’s top-performing videos will incorporate these ads, instead of seeing two 15-second ads consecutively.
CEO Neal Mohan announced the update at Brandcast 2023, saying « more and more, viewers are tuning into YouTube on the biggest screen in their home. » In December 2022, 150 million viewers watched YouTube and YouTube TV on televisions in the US. According to the company, YouTube Select – a platform for advertisers to have their content displayed on YouTube – is landing over 70 percent of impressions on the big screen.
YouTube is also testing « pause experiences » on TV screens, so when a user pauses a video, an ad will appear. This feature is similar to what Hulu rolled out in 2019.
This push on advertising comes after a recent crackdown on ad blockers, which essentially encourages users to pay for the ad-free YouTube Premium.
