I love YouTube, but these unskippable 30-second ads are my breaking point

YouTube now serves unskippable 30-second ads on its TV app, in what feels like another escalation in its war against free users. The TV app is also the place where users have the least control over their ad experience, making the change feel particularly egregious.

After taking a long break from YouTube due to its annoying ads, I dived back into the videos of some of my favorite creators over the past few weeks. But this change is threatening to chase me right back off the app entirely.

Creators need to get paid, and I understand that. It’s why I watch the sponsored segments of videos rather than skipping ahead and deal with ads in a variety of free services. But YouTube’s ads are a masterclass in how to make the experience as unpleasant as possible.

There was a time when YouTube only featured a few ads, and they were minimally intrusive. But as the years have gone by, ads became longer and more frequent, with the ability to skip them limited in various ways.

Now you will see a 15-second ad before you even see any content from the video you want to watch. Longer videos include unskippable ads of up to one minute. While those of us who grew up with traditional TV broadcasts will remember that ad breaks lasted longer than this, they felt less intrusive.

This is down to a few reasons. Firstly, TV ads took place during natural breaks during shows and movies. They were also long enough that you could simply go do something else while you waited for them to end. While some were repetitive, it was rare to see the same ad repeatedly during the same slot.

But YouTube’s ads appear suddenly, often in the middle of a sentence. This completely ruins the flow. Ads are also long enough that they break your attention from the video you’re trying to watch, but too short for you to take a quick coffee break.

If you let ads play on without pressing the skip button right away, the platform can take advantage by queuing up more ads or allowing an excessively long ad. I’ve seen ads load with a two-hour runtime when I wasn’t quick enough to press the skip button. This means that I constantly have to keep my remote by my side, ready to skip an ad.

Despite the amount of data YouTube has on you, ads aren’t necessarily relevant either. I also receive the same ads over and over. On the TV app, there’s no easy way to give feedback on an ad or block it, so you’re mostly at the mercy of what YouTube decides to serve you.

This is not only annoying, but gives you less control over ads that actively distress you. During a period when I was dealing with increased anxiety and depression, I constantly received an ad that included the line: “It’s there. The voice telling you to give up.” The ad was for a magnesium supplement, but it hits differently when you’re dealing with mental illness.

I only really use YouTube on my TV, so I couldn’t find a way to block the ad. The only option was to send it to my phone. I received this ad for weeks, repeatedly, when I was just trying to watch my favorite creators talk about movies and shows I like.

But I don’t really think YouTube wants to make the ad experience better, though. I really just think it’s a way to push people to YouTube Premium.

A common refrain is that I should just subscribe to YouTube Premium to stop dealing with ads. Part of me is spiteful since I don’t want to reward YouTube’s anti-user behavior by giving them money. I hate the trend of free apps trying to bully you into paying by making the free experience worse over time.

But the main reason is that I can’t justify the cost. YouTube Premium costs the same as some streaming services (it actually costs more than Prime Video where I live), and the inclusion of YouTube Music isn’t a benefit for me since I already use Spotify.

Meanwhile, YouTube Premium Lite isn’t available in South Africa and many other countries. I live alone, so splitting the cost with a Family plan isn’t an option either.

The worsening YouTube experience takes place during a time when more services than ever are competing for our disposable income. For some, YouTube Premium is just another small addition to their range of subscriptions. For others, it’s a luxury expense that’s difficult to justify with dwindling budgets.

In many ways, using YouTube for free is dead unless you’re willing to put up with increasingly intrusive ad formats or break the platform’s terms by using ad blockers. While the worsening ad experience will push some to paid plans, I think many will also find ways to avoid ads for free.