Ian Nock

Youtube Breaks Ranks

 

Great news from Youtube…

YouTube is to scrap “unskippable” 30-second advertisements on the video-streaming service, from 2018.Google confirmed the plan to the BBC’s Newsround programme, saying it wanted to focus on “formats that work well for both users and advertisers”.

Source: YouTube ditches unskippable 30-second ads – BBC News

Youtube removing the unskippable feature is a great advance. They realise the reality – that viewers cannot be forced to watch something so there is no point in trying. The ultimate ad-blocker is deployed by the viewer – not watching.

This is of particularly concern as PVRs, particularly Network PVRs, now implement anti-ad skipping functionality as operators seek to replicate this on-line functionality. We love new technical solutions, but some are not recommended. This is particularly bad as despite all the data in the world about the viewer most services fail in advert playout by playing the same three ads, five times per on demand programme hour without any ability for the consumer to skip them. Boring the viewer to death or driving them from your service by annoying them is not in anyone’s best interest and at last there is a major platform that recognises this.

Making your ads interesting and varied is not to be underestimated in ensuring that you maximise your revenue.

Published by Ian Nock

Ian Nock is the Managing Director of Fairmile West Consulting, and has over 25 years experience in high technology research, development, and operations. Since entering the TV industry in the late 1990s, he has worked in the delivery of many Satellite, Cable, IPTV and OTT video platforms across Europe in diverse roles that encompass technology and operations from production to consumption. Ian moved into consulting in 2004 working with some of the most innovative vendor and operator companies in the industry. He founded Fairmile West Consulting (www.fairmilewest.com) in 2012 as a multi-national, high expertise Digital TV and Media consulting and professional services company, working with large/small operators and technology vendors on product/technology strategy, architecture, and delivery. Taking an early interest in the development of Ultra HD, Fairmile West has been a member of the Ultra HD Forum since 2015 and Ian is the Chair of the Ultra HD Forum Interop Working Group. Ian is also the Chair of the IET Multimedia Communications Technical Professional Network. Ian graduated with a First Class Bachelors Degree in Engineering Technology in 1992 from Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University), undertaking research into medical automation, flexible packaging dynamics and post graduate research into artificial intelligence based control systems with a number of published papers in those areas. He quickly jumped out of academia into the nascent Internet and Networking industry before moving into TV. He is a member of the IET, IEEE, RTS and Fellow of the SCTE: The Society for Broadband Professionals. He blogs at http://fairmilewest.com, on LinkedIn and can be found on Twitter at @iannock.