A new dawn is now on YouTube where it is pushing more ads for Free users to watch on the platform, and this is now heavily felt by basic accounts as the 'skip' button is now hidden away by the company. Despite this, there would still be a skip button to appear on the player, but it will only be available after the platform already plays a set duration of an advertisement to an account.
This latest change by YouTube will go alongside the 'unskippable' ads that are already appearing for Free accounts in their streaming experience, and these are videos that need to be watched from start to end.
YouTube Hides Skip Button on Free Accounts in Latest Tests
Redditors unveiled their latest discovery on YouTube where the company is now hiding the 'skip' button on videos, previously seen with a five-second countdown that will tell users whenever an ad can be passed over. The new tactic from YouTube hides the skip button behind a grey rectangle overlay that will make users watch the ad clips for a set duration of its runtime.
After a specific time (usually about five seconds) elapses, the 'Skip' button will then appear, allowing users to bypass the advertisement to proceed with their video streaming or play the next ad.
It was revealed that this latest tactic is a feature that YouTube is testing and will likely be applied in future updates to the platform. Additionally, this change was seen on YouTube's mobile app versions.
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Skippable and Unskippable Ads for YouTube Free Users
Currently, YouTube's ad format for Free accounts features two ads, with one usually an unskippable clip, which users need to watch in its entirety, and the other allowing users to skip it after five seconds. This format may appear for Free users, with the Skip button being hidden by the player before its runtime elapses and then allowing them to pass over it.
That being said, this is not a problem for those who are subscribed to YouTube Premium.
YouTube's Ads are Growing Wild
One of the main sources of revenue on Google's YouTube is its advertisements, and recently, the company reiterated that it is part of its Terms of Service that free users are meant to watch these short videos. This also came at a time when YouTube is cracking down against ad blockers, saying these are violations, especially as it is promoting its Premium subscription for ad-free streaming.
Apart from running ads on the main YouTube experiences, particularly for horizontal videos, the company has developed a recent AI that will help advertisers transform their advertisements in the vertical format. This latest tool will significantly improve the ads seen on YouTube Shorts, its TikTok copycat, and it will allow ad partners to use their landscape videos and convert them to vertical clips.
Last month, YouTube also expanded more of its advertisement injections to videos that users watch as they tested a feature on YouTube TV that will show ads whenever pausing videos, and this is on top of the regular ad placements.YouTube's evolution and growth also saw its ads being more and more apparent for Free accounts, which are disappointing many users, with a new experience where the skip button is hidden and set to arrive soon.
