Finally, YouTube is giving desktop users a reason to celebrate by phasing out Overlay Ads. These banner-style pop-ups have been known to interrupt the viewing experience for those without YouTube Premium subscriptions, but their removal will make watching videos on the platform smoother and less disruptive.
YouTube has announced a major change to its advertising strategy by discontinuing the “Overlay ads” feature. Starting from April 6, 2023, these banner-style ads that pop up on desktop or browser-based videos will no longer be available.
According to a YouTube Help Forum post, the company has decided to remove this “legacy ad format” because it has been found to be disruptive for viewers. Instead, YouTube will be shifting towards “other ad formats,” although no details have been provided as to what these will be.
However, YouTube has stated that the removal of Overlay ads will have a “limited impact” on YouTube creators. This suggests that Overlay ads make up a relatively small proportion of ads shown on eligible monetized content, especially since this ad format has been unavailable on mobile platforms for some time in favor of pre-, mid-, and post-roll ad formats that can often be skipped.
YouTube overlay ads are a type of banner-style pop-up ad that appear on desktop or browser versions of the platform. While they have been a popular ad format for a long time, but they are known to disrupt or obscure the currently playing video content, leading to a poor user experience. As a result, YouTube has decided to phase out this ad format, in favor of other ad formats that will be less disruptive and intrusive.
For creators, this means that they will no longer be able to activate or add Overlay ads from within YouTube Studio when accessing monetization options. They will have to rely on other ad formats to monetize their content on the platform.
It remains to be seen what these “other ad formats” might entail, but it’s possible that YouTube may be looking to introduce new features like “Product Tagging.” This feature allows creators to tag products used or featured within their videos, making it easier for viewers to purchase items they see in the video.
While this change will undoubtedly benefit viewers by reducing intrusive elements that obscure or clash with video content, it also raises questions about the future of advertising on YouTube. It will be interesting to see what YouTube comes up with to replace Overlay ads and how this will impact creators and advertisers on the platform.
Source: YouTube Community Forum