Thankfully, this legacy ad format is being given the boot. YouTube has announced that the “Overlay ads” type of advertising format will no longer appear on YouTube, starting from April 6, 2023.
Overlay ads are currently seen in YouTube videos only when you access the site via desktop. They’re not present for videos seen on mobile devices.
Now YouTube is phasing them out completely to enhance the viewer experience and will focus on other ad formats moving forward. It does not expect creators to be impacted much by the change.
There are still several kinds of (possibly more effective) ad formats that can inserted to monetize YouTube channels.
The video streaming platform also mentioned that there are no changes to any of their other ad formats. There is some concern that companies with rather modest ad budgets will have fewer options for advertising on YouTube since overlay ads are pretty affordable.
But it’s a win for audiences as well as YouTube which has to compete with the likes of Instagram and TikTok to provide a minimally intrusive interface for users to engage with.