Tag: Ad-skipping

YouTube To End 30-Second Unskippable Ads Next Year

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google has announced that it will stop supporting 30-second-long unskippable pre-roll ads on YouTube in 2018, as it aims to provide a better ad experience for viewers. Instead, it will focus on “formats that work well for both users and advertisers,” including the 6-second unskippable “bumper” ads. 15-second and 20-second unskippable pre-roll units are also here to stay for the time being.

What Brands Need To Do
Google’s announcement is a tacit acknowledgment of the annoyingness of unskippable ads, which often plays out against at viewers’ vexation. Fortunately for brand marketers, our recent media trial with Magna shows that even skipped ads have considerable impact on persuasion metrics and brand attributes. Plus, our study also found that attention to pre-roll ads is typically high regardless of ad length.

For more information on how brands can get ready for a skippable future, check out our media trial report Turbocharge Your Skippable Pre-Roll Campaign.

Source: The Verge

Apple Might Be Ready To Skip Commercials

Posted on by Lab Team

When Apple takes on existing technologies and puts their product design expertise to work, they have the power to move technologies formerly only accessible to the more technically-minded among us into the mainstream.  DVR technology is hardly exclusive to mega-geeks, but if Apple moved into the sphere, it is likely the popularity of the technology could explode.  Sources indicate that the technology giant has begun meeting with cable networks to pitch an ad-skipping service much like TiVo or Hopper.  This could only be a small part of a larger set-top-box project, but it could still spell a big problem for TV advertisers. The report indicates that Apple would pay networks every time a user skips ads, so it’s possible there would be a subscription fee involved as well.  In any case, if the rates are not set carefully, Apple could seriously disrupt the effectiveness and cost of TV advertising.