YouTube’s most popular video platform is constantly approaching to becoming known as primarily advertising platform where some content can be found by the way. Needless to say, people started calling it “AdTube”. This is exactly what the article in front of you deals with…
How Did It Start With Ads…
Remember the time when YouTube, the most popular video sharing and viewing platform, had no commercials? It seems like a distant past, but we were able to watch the desired content six or seven years ago without unnecessary interruption. Of course, here, we mean marketing content that is played before and/or after the YouTube video.
It began with one commercial before the video started. Somehow we would endure those five seconds it took for us to get the option to skip the ad, and then faster and better, without remorse, press the box that said: “Skip Ad”. Although, some users have found themselves in such situations that they simply cannot skip videos lasting extremely long, even longer than an hour. But, realistically, have you ever watched at least one of the marketing materials to the very end, provided it is a bit longer content? We guess not.
The reason is simple: YouTube ads are not interesting in the eyes of viewers, they just don’t work.
Nevertheless, the number of advertisements began to increase over the years. One commercial was replaced by two, and it is no longer unusual for one to appear even after the video. Rarely, however, has anyone been willing to give up YouTube and move to a similar, less popular video platform. Hand on heart, YouTube is irreplaceable.
It Went Too Far With Ads
YouTube ads have gone too far. Using two commercials 30 seconds long altogether at the beginning of each video is really too much. This is the opinion prevailing among the users of Reddit, probably the largest discussion website in the world.
Sure, Google itself is aware that advertisements on YouTube don’t ‘sit’ well with the audience, but their motive is clear – money, of course. According to the data from the portal Statista, in 2024, the platform earned almost $20 billion from advertisements alone, which is almost twice as much as in 2018, when they reached the amount of $11.15 billion. And while the cash register is full because of ads, they cause frustration and a counter-effect for many. Thus, more and more dissatisfied users appear on the pages of brands on social networks with angry comments that they will never buy their products precisely because their advertisement was shown to them on YouTube.
Accordingly, a part of the title of our text was born, which implies that YouTube ads drive people away. Ads don’t fulfill their main role – not for the owners of the popular video platform, but for those who advertise on it. We didn’t come to YouTube for ads. We don’t sign up on YouTube to browse other people’s promotional materials, but to listen to music, watch summaries of a match we bet on in an online casino at TopCasinoExpert.com with a sports offer, watch podcasts, or laugh with a funny video. Consequently, in many of us, there is defiance of the brand or product that is the subject of the advertisement itself; we decide to avoid it.
YouTube Is Slipping Towards No Longer Looking at It as a Content Platform but as a Newsletter
YouTube is constantly approaching becoming known as an advertising platform (even worse, a platform for trolling), where you can also find some content along the way.
Needless to say, people started calling it jokingly “AdTube”.
YouTube has increased the number of ads in 2024 compared to previous years.
Previously, commercials were broadcast only on channels that are part of the YouTube Partner Program, channels with more than a thousand subscribers, but that is now a thing of the past. Yes, you watch more commercials than ever before.
It sucks, many portals relevant to this issue agreed. There is a solution to all problems, and in this case, it is, of course, called – AdBlock. We really don’t mind people making money on the Internet through advertisements and so many users don’t turn on their ad blockers when reading portals like the NY Times, but YouTube has simply exaggerated in its attempts to commercialize itself.
AdBlock Is the Only Thing That Remains as a User Weapon
This is, in fact, the easiest way to send YouTube marketing content in your browser to history. You have probably encountered situations where YouTube has broken a video of 10 minutes or one longer than an hour, into several smaller parts. In between, of course, there were commercials, which is especially annoying when you listen to a concert and a commercial interrupts you in the middle of a song by your singer/band artist.
Interestingly, as many as 57% of YouTube searches are related to music. Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer, and others are all solutions that could replace YouTube, but with the inclusion of AdBlock, staying on the same platform seems to be the easiest move.
YouTube commercials work even worse than TV commercials because the video viewing platform has almost completely replaced television. You no longer have to watch movies on the big screen; it is easy enough to turn on the laptop and everything is already served to you. There is nothing missing on this platform and that is why they have given themselves the right to become a strong name in the marketing industry, which ‘rewards’ them with millions and millions of dollars every day. We can also draw a parallel with Facebook: despite the fact that they consciously shared our data, it is still the leading social network in the world that we don’t plan to leave – with, of course, Instagram, which is also owned by them.
Instead of waging unnecessary Internet wars and lobbying for the platform to reduce the amount of marketing content, reaching for quality tools will solve all the problems. Today, YouTube will never stop making money from and because of accumulated ads, intrigue, and anger its users, but AdBlock is at your fingertips…