I’m posting this in IMHO because I’m not sure there’s a factual answer.
I’ve gotten into the habit of watching the video ads that appear before videos on YouTube, if they’re reasonably short and not offensive. When there’s an overlay ad box over the video itself, though, I close it as soon as possible.
I’m assuming that YouTube/Google keeps track of which ads are watched in their entirety, which are skipped, etc.
My reasoning is that, by watching the least-bad ads, I’m helping keep YouTube profitable and indirectly sending advertisers a message as to which ads are acceptable.
On the other hand, I’m sure some would argue that I’m encouraging YouTube to run more ads.
And yes, I’m aware that my behaviour doesn’t have much weight with YouTube.
So, what say you? Am I doing my civic duty or ruining my community?
How are they going to know if you watch them or not? When an ad comes on youtube I just mute it and go to another page for 30 seconds. Are you skipping them or blocking them?
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. Of course the servers at the other end cannot know if I’m actively watching or if I’ve muted my computer’s audio and switched to another page, but they can know if I’ve clicked the “Skip ad” link on the ad. Even if the whole ad has been downloaded to my PC by then, if they get a request for the video proper, only 8 seconds after starting a 30-second ad, then obviously I’ve clicked “Skip ad”.
Oh I guess I wasn’t familiar with being able to skip the ads. I don’t see them often in youtube and I guess I probably do skip them given the option.
I say, if there is a product that within the first 8 seconds of seeing you are genuinely interested in it, then why not? People rail against marketing and advertising as pure evil, and maybe some of it is dedicated to getting people to buy things they don’t really want or need, but also sometimes aren’t you grateful you happened upon an ad that alerted you to a new product that you really did want or need?
So I say, watch the ads for the products you genuinely want to learn more about, skip the ones you don’t. But don’t keep watching the same ad over and over again with the hopes that it promotes it somehow.
On my system, I get a 15-second ad for Robax back-pain relief medicine before the video plays. Of course the ad is tailored to my location and tastes, but I guess it should show some sort of ad on your system.
I got a trailer for the movie Rush, a film of which I was previously unaware and it looks completely awesome. I preferred watching the add to the video that followed.
I’ve also heard that if an ad is popular, YouTube is more likely to show it. So you’re also helping the advertiser. But isn’t this unfair to unpopular ads?
It goes well beyond YouTube; those ads directly support the video creators themselves.
As one who makes videos on YouTube for a living, I greatly appreciate it when people watch the ads on our videos, since that’s how I make my money. If you like the content being provided, it’s best tor reward those efforts by watching the ads.
Well, it used to be that you had to become an official YouTube “Partner” by having a channel of a certain size and quality. This would provide a bunch of additional features, including the ability to monetize your videos by having YouTube run ads on them. Those profits are then split between YouTube and the video’s creator.
Only difference now is I think anyone can choose to monetize their videos.
