How often have you wanted to watch something on YouTube and saw an ad before the content?
Almost every time, right?
If you are like most who cannot afford a YouTube premium subscription, you’re desperately waiting to skip those pesky ads that take over your screen. Welcome to YouTube unskippable ads 2021 and beyond; YouTube will be pushing for more non-skippable ads than before.
We’ll discuss in this post what’s up with YouTube and why YouTube ads are unskippable now. In the end, I’ll show you the four best ways to watch YouTube without ads.
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Types of YouTube Ads
YouTube has a complex algorithm that determines when and what type of ad it wants to display to a viewer. It also depends on the creator’s ad setup for monetization. The video player platforms like computers, cell phones, TV, or tablet also affect the display ad formats. The following are the four basic YouTube ad formats:
1. Skippable Video Ads:
These are the trueview ads that users can skip after they have watched it for 5 seconds. The ad may be displayed before, during, or after the video is played.
The skippable ads are a minimum of 12 seconds to 3 minutes long. The counter is activated, and in 5 seconds, you’ll see a skip button. Once you skid the ad, the video continues.
2. Non-Skippable Video Ads:
As the name suggests, viewers can not skip these ads. The ad runs for 15 or 20 seconds and disappears. The video automatically continues from where it was interrupted. The non-skippable video ads are displayed on all platforms, including computer mobile, gaming consoles, and TVs.
3. Bumper Ads:
Bumper ads are short video ads around 6 seconds. These are best for advertisers to create brand outreach and awareness and may be displayed any time within the length of a video. These are some of the popular ad types that advertisers love to use.
4. Overlay Ads:
The overlay ads are displayed only on the videos played on the computer. It shows up and stays on the lower third and covers almost 20% of the video. The ad is hyperlinked to the advertisers’ page and therefore clickable. You also have an option to close the ad by clicking the “X” mark on the top left.
YouTube Unskippable Ads
YouTube rolled out its unskippable content to all the content creators in 2018. Before this date, it was accessible only to the selected channel partner programs. YouTube introduced the 15 to 20 seconds ads to replace the 30- second non-skippable ad, which most viewers did not like. These short ads benefit video marketing about brands, products, and services.
The advertisers pay less money if the viewers skip ads. Research suggests that 76 percent of the consumers click next to the skippable display ads on YouTube videos like it’s become second nature. The skip is also almost instantaneous.
The non-skippable ads gave content creators leverage to earn more money. It is essential to sustain in the YouTube business.
YouTube also made it purely optional to the creators. They are in control of whether to display unskippable ads or not. YouTube will also have user engagement and revenue analytics through unskippable ads to guide creators.
Long Unskippable YouTube Ads 2020 and beyond
The 20-second long unskippable YouTube ads have a better conversion for advertisers, content creators, and YouTube. YouTube has been pushing these long unskippable YouTube ads in 2020 and 2021.
The primary reason for long unskippable YouTube ads in 2020 and 2021 is YouTube’s subscription program, YouTube Premium. It is an ad-free service available to access YouTube content for $11.99 per month. After its introduction in 2018, another way of increasing subscriptions besides constant notification to sign up is by doubling down on display ads.
Why are the YouTube Ads Unskippable Now?
YouTube’s unskippable ads have been around for a very long time. YouTube has made few modifications to these unskippable ads from time to time.
The main reasons for introducing YouTube’s unskippable ads are increasing content creators’ (and eventually YouTube’s) revenue through YouTube advertising and growing premium subscribers. It helps support creators to produce better content and make money. It also works out for the YouTube platform.
Why Has YouTube Introduced Double Ads?
The plain and simple reason why YouTube introduced double ads is to increase the revenue. Ads are the only way YouTube, and its creator can be profitable. More ads mean more advertisers and eventually more money for the creator and YouTube.
YouTube is constantly experimenting with the user experience on the platform before pushing ads to the viewers. Based on its user experience research, YouTube tested ad-pods, two ads back to back, because they found users are sensitive to interrupting ad breaks on long viewing sessions. The ad views and content engagements are high if two ads are displayed with few on no breaks till the end of the video.
Why Are There So Many Ads on YouTube?
If you’re wondering what is up with YouTube with so many ads, you’re not aware of YouTube’s updated term of service. It states- starting November 18, 2020, YouTube will reserve the right to display ads on the non-YouTube Partner Program (YPP) participants’ YouTube channels.
A channel must have 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 watch hours in a year, and a linked Adsense account to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program and display ads. If you do not need quality, YouTube will still place ads on your videos, but you’ll get any shares on the revenue. It is the biggest reason there are so many ads on YouTube now. The video content giant is pushing ads on every video.
How to Watch YouTube Without Ads?
I can understand how frustrating it is to see ads when watching something quickly on YouTube. You almost want to press back and move on to the next. It is also one of the reasons why I started moving to text content rather than video lately. However, I’ll show you the four best ways to block ads on YouTube.
1. YouTube Premium Subscription
The best, but not free, method of removing ads from YouTube is by subscribing to YouTube Premium. You’ll enjoy not only ad-free content but also background play, download YouTube music to play offline. The background play lets you close YouTube and still listen to music.
However, the subscription is not cheap ($11.99 per month), but it might be the best way to go depending on your requirement. With YouTube premium, you do not require third-party plugins to stop ads from showing.
2. Adblock for YouTube Extension
The other most straightforward way to get free YouTube without ads on a personal computer is by using Adblock for YouTube extension. It is a chrome browser extension, and I’m sure you’ll also be able to find it for other web browsers. All you have to do is add it to your chrome and let it do its magic.
3. Third-Party Program
There are few third-party programs like AdGuard for adblocking. I have not tested it myself, but the company website states that AdGuard can block ads in Windows, Mac, Android Phones, and iOS devices. On top of blocking ads, it also blocks dangerous websites and enhances page load speed. It costs $79.99 for up to 3 devices, which is not cheap but something you might consider to protect all the devices and surf the web safely.
4. URL Modification
Watching YouTube videos ad-free within URL modification hack sounds too good to be true, but it worked when I tried it. It was a top topic on Reddit. In this method, you’ll modify the video URL by adding a period after dot com. It is a nifty solution to remove ads from YouTube videos, although it requires changing the URL on each video.
