YouTube makes skipping ads trickier for mobile users
YouTube is said to be testing a new feature that hides the countdown timer and grayed-out skip button on ads on its mobile app. The altered feature only shows the skip button after a user has seen a certain portion of the ad, as reported by Android Police. The removal of the countdown timer is aimed at drawing viewers' attention toward the content of the advertisement itself rather than when they can skip it.
New feature aims to increase ad engagement
Earlier, users could see a visible timer counting down until they were able to skip the ad. Now, this button only appears after users have viewed a certain portion of an advertisement. This appears to be a deliberate tactic to make users think an ad is unskippable by hiding the Skip button at first. However, despite these changes, users can still predict when an ad will become skippable by observing the yellow seek bar at the bottom of their screen.
Ad change is currently in testing phase
It's important to note that the changes to YouTube's mobile app ads are currently being tested and have not been officially announced by the company. Not all users have reported seeing these modifications, which means the feature is still in its experimental stage. It remains to be seen if Google will fully implement this change or discontinue it based on user feedback and testing results.
