Over the past few months, YouTube has been on a mission to improve its advertising revenue, which is clearly evident from the changes they have made. Recently, YouTube started its crackdown on adblockers where the platform bow prevents viewers from watching videos when they are found to be blocking ads. YouTube is now making it harder to skip ads, by changing the design of the ‘Skip Ad’ button.
If you are not a YouTube Premium subscriber, then you know the number of ads that precede each video. While some ads are unskippable, YouTube does let you skip some ads after watching a preview of 5-10 seconds. However, YouTube is now changing the appearance of the skip button to make it blend with the background, to increase the watch time of ads.
YouTube’s New Skip Ad Button Is Now Smaller
YouTube has redesigned the Skip Ad button, by making it smaller in size. The button now features a round shape and is comparatively more transparent than it was previously.
However, this new change is currently under trial. YouTube may have rolled out this change to a small set of users to see the impact of this new design on the watch time of ads. As much as a user would hate it, YouTube wants the viewer to watch the ad as long as possible because advertising revenue is a big part of YouTube’s business.
The current design of the Skip Ad button on YouTube has not changed for a while. This has made viewers get used to the skip button, which defeats the purpose of advertising. Hence, from a business point of view, it is fair for YouTube to try to drive more engagement over its ads.
YouTube is definitely exploring ways to increase its revenue. A few weeks back, YouTube also hiked prices of the YouTube Premium subscription by 10% in some regions like the US. However, these changes have not applied to markets outside of the US.
YouTube Does Not Want You To Block Ads
YouTube also does not like when users try to block ads, because that takes a direct hit at their platform. Last year, YouTube had taken the legal route to shut down YouTube Vanced, a third-party Android app that would stream YouTube videos without any ads. The company had issued a legal notice to cease and desist the Vanced Project with immediate effect.
Shortly after its crackdown on Vanced, YouTube started promoting its Family Premium Plan, to attract more viewers to become paying subscribers. YouTube started offering 12 months of free YouTube premium under referral programs, which proved to be a hit on social media.
People realized that the Family Plan costs 1/5th the price of individual cost, on a per-head basis. However, it is important that viewers adhere to the terms and conditions of YouTube for registering users in a family plan, failing to which may result in the termination of their Premium subscription.
