A couple of years ago I wrote this:
What I’ve noticed happening just in the past month though is that not only do there seem to be more ads, but the ads themselves are getting longer. Much longer. Much, much longer. Ads that run for a minute and a half are now not uncommon. But I’ve also seen them run 4 and 5 minutes, and (this was the record) one a couple of days ago that was 8 minutes and 30 seconds! That’s not an ad, it’s a full infomercial. This goes beyond being annoying, to the point where it actually has had the effect of driving me away.
It’s no secret why they’re doing this. They want you to pay for a premium service where you don’t have to see ads. Or so they say. I don’t know how true that is (sponsored ads, I assume, are still included), or how long it’s likely to last. I can remember when cable TV became a big thing and it was known as Pay-TV and the deal was you paid a subscription and you got to watch everything with no ads. That’s not cable TV today.
Still, I’m scratching my head at advertising that’s so deliberately alienating. Who wants to watch an eight-and-a-half-minute ad? Absolutely no one. That isn’t an irritant, it’s a nuclear bomb being dropped on the platform. It’s a message to everyone that if you’re not paying for a subscription they don’t want you there at all. That seems self-defeating to me. But Amazon is still going strong despite its enshittification and I suspect YouTube will still be in business even after it’s become so overwhelmed with advertising it’s barely functional. There’s a lot of room for things to get shittier yet.
And boy did they! Given my shock and amazement at ads that were 8 minutes long I had to revisit this post today as I just watched a podcast where, right in the middle, they dropped an 18-minute advertisement! What gives?
Alex Good 
What the heck could they advertise for 18 minutes?
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Something to do with a technology for building your own battery. I skipped it as soon as I could get out of the kitchen. Usually I can wait these out but this seemed to be going on and on and when I got to the computer I saw how much was left to go and I was shocked.
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Strange, am sure there’s actual YouTube tutorials for doing that!
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You’ve seen nothing yet. I’ve had engire podcast episodes as ads. Like a 90 minute ad of two guys talking. Thank Jesus I didn’t have to wait 30 minutes to skip it. Also people’s music videos demos are really strange as ads. Even if someone liked your music video long enough to watch it as an ad, they’ve already seen it so they’re not going to then go give your actual uploaded video any views or likes.
YouTube did really shit the bed. They have the same flaws now as network TV is a world where they became popular for mostly being free of those flaws.
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Exactly. I was just thinking of that. We know that YouTube is the new TV. But broadcast TV at least had regularly timed commercial breaks. You knew when they were coming. YouTube doesn’t want that so everything is random. You may watch a podcast that runs for 30 minutes with no ads. Or you may have three ad breaks in the first five minutes. It’s designed to drive you crazy. Also, broadcast TV never had ads that ran for five, eight, or eighteen minutes.
YouTube is the new TV because when it started it was better than TV. It’s now arguably worse, and getting worse all the time.
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It’s made worse by adblockera only working on desktop, and even then I’m pretty sure YouTube works around a few of those programs since I’ve definetly seen YouTube ads with an adblocker active. But at least it’s an option. On the TV app, however, you just have to endure the ads. I’ve also noticed the ads are longer on the TV ad, and come in twos, than they are on desktop or phone.
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I think it’s all part of them pushing you into becoming a subscriber. But I’m sure the long-range plan will be to have subscribers forced to see ads as well.
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