YouTube's ad problem just got worse: Users now seeing 90-second unskippable ads!

YouTube’s ad problem seems to be getting out of hand, with users now reporting that they’re seeing excruciating 90-second unskippable ads on the platform.

Multiple Reddit reports suggest YouTube is now serving these long, unskippable ads in its TV app. What’s even more frustrating is that YouTube’s official ad format rules state that non-skippable ads on the YouTube app for connected TVs can’t exceed 30 seconds. So essentially, these new 90-second unskippable ads are out of policy, or so it seems right now.

These reports come just weeks after YouTube confirmed the rollout of 30-second unskippable ads on connected TVs, marking a clear escalation in its ad strategy.

Like we said before, YouTube’s official guidelines state that unskippable in-stream ads are capped at 15 seconds on mobile and 30 seconds on TVs. However, reports of these new 90-second unskippable ads suggest that Google is either testing longer ad formats on the YouTube app for TVs or it has already started rolling them out. We’ll reach out to Google to clarify.

Ads have always been central to YouTube’s business model, but the aggressive expansion of longer, unavoidable interruptions on TVs makes free YouTube as good as watching cable television.

30-second unskippable ads were already pushing the limits for many users, but the introduction of these new 90-second spots suggests YouTube is intensifying the pressure to nudge fence-sitters towards a Premium subscription.