Say goodbye to banner ads intruding on YouTube sessions. The platform is preparing to retire “overlay” ads, which can pop up at the bottom of videos when viewed on a desktop computer.
The Google-owned platform mentioned the change in a support document, which was spotted by 9To5Google. "To help improve the viewer experience and optimize for higher performing ad formats across desktop and mobile devices, YouTube will no longer run overlay ads starting April 6, 2023,” the update says.
YouTube seems to be suggesting the banner ads have become both outdated and ineffective at generating clicks from interested users. “Overlay ads are a legacy ad format that appears on desktop only and we expect limited impact on earnings for most Creators as engagement shifts to other ad formats,” it says.
The change promises to reduce clutter on YouTube. As you can see, the overlay ads can pop up during a video session and bombard you with awkward messaging that has nothing to do with the clip you’re watching.
But on the flip side, terminating the overlay ads also removes a way that YouTube creators can generate ad revenue. In addition, the end of the overlay ads may signal YouTube is preparing to increase the ad load in other areas, which could be more intrusive and force users to endure even more commercials. Last year, the platform was spotted testing five to 10 unskippable ads in a row over longer videos.
The support documents goes on to note YouTube currently has three other ad formats, which revolve around showing ads before or during a video.