- YouTube is testing longer but fewer ad breaks on smart TVs and connected TV experiences, in line with how viewers watch content on these platforms.
- The company is also exploring displaying the countdown timer for the ad break in a more prominent fashion.
YouTube has become the go-to platform for many for their daily entertainment needs, whether on mobile or. In fact, YouTube says that the service is leading streaming watch time on connected TVs for the ninth month in a row in the US. YouTube TV has a diverse selection of channels to explore if you want to cut your cable cord completely. With that being said, the service appears to be inching closer to the cable TV experience, as YouTube is now exploring longer but fewer ads on its TV experience.
Longer but fewer ad breaks
As the company says in its announcement blog post, YouTube is testing a different approach to ads on smart TVs and connected TV experiences (like smart TV boxes and game consoles). 65% of YouTube’s watch time on these devices in the US is 21 minutes or longer, and frequent short ads can be highly annoying and disruptive to this experience.