I was watching a random YouTube video the other day and the creator said something I really appreciated.
“I’ve turned off all the mid-roll ads,” he said, speaking directly into the camera. “I feel like it ruins your experience and I don’t like that.”
If you aren’t familiar, mid-roll ads are those commercials that play halfway through a video, right when it's starting to get good. They’re incredibly annoying, but they’re also an important part of a YouTube Channel’s revenue.
Basically, this creator was saying that he was willing to sacrifice some of his income in order to improve the viewer’s experience. How refreshing!
Usually it seems that brands care more about my money than they care about my experience. It drives me crazy.
I’ve been watching the NBA Bubble games since they returned and they’ve started showing commercials between free throws! It’s insane. Here I am getting into the sports drama unfolding before me and suddenly the game goes silent on half the screen while I have to watch a promo for a video game on the other.
When I’m reading an article on The New York Times subscription I’M PAYING FOR, I still have to scroll past lingerie and real estate ads after every other paragraph. It’s infuriating.
Sometimes I do gigs alongside other performers and they insist on promoting their services during the show we’re already doing. It always makes me uncomfortable. The audience already paid for tickets, can’t we stop selling to them and give them a killer show?
Yes, I know I could use an ad blocker for the online content but sometimes they don’t work. Also, I try to keep ads turned on for creators I care about so they can continue to earn revenue. I don’t blame the creators for the annoying ads - they’re just working within a system that doesn’t give a shit prioritizes money over my enjoyment of the platform.
I also have turned off all of my ad preferences. That means I get served really random ads that aren’t specific to me in any way. As a result, I constantly notice them and get pulled out of what I’m doing. I think when you let the ads become tailored to you that you grow numb to them. You start seeing ads for things that you may enjoy, but grow numb to how miserable the experience around those ads has become.
(As for the NBA…well, they only care about the bag. But my fellow performers should know better…)
I was so grateful to that YouTuber for turning off his mid-roll ads. It made me so aware of how much better my experience was when I wasn’t being constantly inundated with advertisements and interruptions. As a result, he gained a new subscriber.
If you value my experience with your product you’ll get a fan for life. I’ll join your mailing list, subscribe to your channel, and buy tickets to your show. From start to finish, give me the best experience possible, then leave me alone. Don’t try to up-sell me, don’t solicit reviews, don’t spam me with future promos. Just blow me away and l promise I’ll be more than happy to spread the word for you for years to come.