But they should at least be less frequent
If you’ve been watching YouTube on your TV lately and wondering why the ads feel like they’re getting longer, there’s a good reason – the site is rolling out longer commercials, while promising that they’ll at least be less frequent than before.
YouTube’s new blog post describes how it’s making the streaming service « more helpful » for viewers (and, in particular, advertisers). These experiments, which mean you could see a countdown timer as long as 200 seconds in the bottom corner of long-form videos, are now rolling out globally.
YouTube says its research shows that viewers prefer knowing the total time remaining before they can skip, rather than the number of ads – so that’s what you’ll see soon in a « skip in » countdown timer, if you haven’t already.
These changes are specific to watching YouTube on connected TVs, either through built-in smart platforms or the best streaming boxes like Apple TV.
