YouTube Ad Blocker No Longer Needed? Google Nixing 30-Second Unskippable Ads

Thirty seconds never feels longer than when you're stuck watching an ad before a YouTube video. But Google announced some good news; it will be eliminating the 30 second unskippable ads come next year, according to Campaign.

This doesn't mean YouTube will be ad free though. YouTube will "focus instead on formats that work well for both users and advertisers," a Google spokesman told Campaign. So there will likely be more under 30 second unskippable ads, like the six second unskippable bumper ads that YouTube implemented last year.

"I’m reading this as a signal that YouTube is very worried about Facebook," Callum McCahon, a strategy director at the social media agency Born Social, told Campaign.

As Facebook has increased its capacity for video, introducing live video, and videos with playcounts that autoplay in newsfeeds, it's become more comparable to and competitive with YouTube.

The change in advertising strategy may be a sign that YouTube is trying to be a more attractive platform for users than Facebook.