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.
