No, it’s not a sensation: there is much more advertising on YouTube than before. Much more than in 2021, a mountain more than in 2019. There is little official data on how much ads have grown, because it is not information that YouTube willingly shares. But if truly “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then the Statista graph (see below) which shows how YouTube’s advertising revenue has grown after the first half of 2020 it’s more than enough to understand how things are going. And also why they are going the way they are going.
In 2018, 2019 and then again in the first part of 2020, YouTube made its revenue from advertising between 3 and 4.5 billion dollars for every single quarterfor a total of just over 15 billion dollars in the whole of 2019. As we can see, in the third quarter of 2020 there is a decisive leap: from that moment on it is difficult to find a quarter in which YouTube did not have revenues at least 6-7 (if not even 8) billion dollars, for a total of nearly $30 billion in annual revenue in 2022. That is, exactly double compared to 3 years earlier.
YouTube makes money from advertising double the money than beforesimply because there is much, much, much more advertising on YouTube than before.
Interview Living on YouTube: this is how the Roman Manuel Mercuri exceeded 10 million followers and employs 5 people by Emanuele Capone 12 November 2023 The Statista graph showing the trend of YouTube’s advertising turnover (image from statista.com)
youtube: how to use ads on YouTube
How advertising on YouTube works
What happened? Because there is that obvious gap between the second and third quarters of 2020? It happened that the coronavirus arrived, that we spent more time locked in the house and we started watching YouTube more, much more: as we already wrote at the end of 2020, the site managers have evidently noticed it but the advertisers have also noticed it. So they started looking for people on YouTube and advertise more are YouTube.
In the last couple of years, the Google’s video uploading platformon which over 1 billion hours of video are viewed every day and over 300 hours of content are published every minute, has also worked to become more welcoming for companies: it has lowered the duration limit beyond which YouTubers can place any number of ads inside their videos (they’re called mid-roll), created advertising pods (longer blocks of ads, even 30-60 seconds at a time), started fight effectively against adblockers and started showing ads on Shorts too, between one video and another (they’re called pre-roll e post-roll).
From YouTube they explained to us some things that actually make sense and reminded us of other things we already knew: that “ad pods are generally served to viewers watching longer-form content with the aim of reducing ad breaks” (you get them all in one once and then you don’t think about it anymore, in short), that “We share the majority of ad revenue with creators who participate in the Partner Program” and that “YouTube’s ad-supported model fuels a diverse ecosystem of creators and gives access to video content to billions of people around the world.” Which is true, God forbid.
And yet, perhaps the situation has gotten a little out of hand. Especially if you watch YouTube from the TV, where in relatively short periods of time (a maggio 2023 and then again to December 2023) were 30-second spots introduced first which cannot be skipped and then less frequent but longer insertions. So it ends up that those who watch 5, 8, 10 videos on YouTube in a day, perhaps for 40, 60, 80 minutes or more, are overwhelmed by advertising almost as if they were watching TV in the Nineties.
youtube: a YouTuber’s protest against the commercials
reddit: one of many YouTube threads and commercials
YouTube Premium is not the solution
We asked YouTube if it has some feedback from viewers about this increase in commercials but we have received no response, except diplomatic phrases such as “user experience is a priority in the design of all our advertising products” and “the commitment goes in the direction of innovating and thinking about how to make the advertising experience the best it can be for the spectators.”
It’s honestly though It’s hard to imagine that the site managers didn’t notice the complaintsin growing numbers on all social networks, from Facebook to TikTok, up to Reddit, including those of students who say that “I use YouTube for studying and learn, but with all this publicity it has become impossible to do so and stay focused.” There are also videos on YouTube where YouTubers complain about advertising on YouTube.
Let’s be clear: the problem of excessive advertising It’s not just YouTube’s problem. It also concerns listening to music in digital format (even Spotify’s free plan gives the sensation of hosting more commercials) and above all concerns streaming platforms: in November 2022, Netflix also introduced in Italy the subscription with advertising from 5.49 euros per monthAmazon Prime Video will do it from January 29th starting from the United States and Disney Plus is also thinking of something like this for 2024.
It is precisely this widespread invasion which is starting to become unbearable, also because it is difficult to escape unless you pay: 2.99 per month to not see the commercials on Prime Video or 11.99 euros per month to subscribe to YouTube Premium. Which is honestly a lot of money. It’s true that there’s also YouTube Music inside, where you can download videos to watch them offline and even start playback in the background, but 11.99 is practically the price of a Netflix HD subscription, with access to a catalog of thousands of films and TV series. It’s a lot.
Staying with YouTube, there would be other ways out:
choose a different adblock, because the site still doesn’t recognize them all; use a video player that allows you to watch YouTube without going to the YouTube site, such as Invidious;
use a VPN to pretend to be in a country other than Italy or in any case different from those in which YouTube imposes these limitations.
Honestly, as we have already written recently, we do not recommend any of them: partly because they are cumbersome, partly because YouTube will sooner or later take action even on the fronts on which it is currently open to attack and above all because we are actually convinced that “Ads enable billions of people around the world to use YouTube.” It is true. And yet, it is also true that if we wanted advertising on the Internet like on televisionthen we would continue watching television.
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3 tips for YouTube to improve
It takes a little equilibriumon everyone’s part: on the part of those who watch in accepting a few commercials, on the part of those who broadcast in not putting 5 in a 20 minute video to monetize as much as possible, on the part of YouTube in ensuring that all this works as it should needs to.
To help site managers, we give them 3 tips whose application could confirm that “user experience is a priority” for them too:
think of a less expensive version of YouTube Premiummore basic and without frills, which just removes advertising and perhaps costs 2.99 or even 3.99 (but not 11.99) per month;
a bit like Netflix doesadd a feature that reduces the number of commercials that viewers have to endure a certain number of videos (5-8) or minutes (60) per day;
check better what YouTubers do, who from what we understand don’t have a limit on the number of spots that they can insert into their videos, and perhaps impose a limit linked to the duration of the content.
And if this causes creators to lose out on revenue, YouTube certainly has the economic strength to compensate for these shortcomings. Because from a turnover of 30 billion a year, there is no doubt that a little more money can come out for those who create the contents.
Even if the historian Don’t be evil is no longer Google’s official motto, the new one Do the right thing it means more or less the same. And this really seems like the right thing to do to keep alive the democratizing spirit with which YouTube was born in 2005.
@capoema