YouTube to remove 'overlay ads' from April 6: How will it impact you?

Overlay ads appear at the bottom, or the top of the video as pop-up cards, and the viewers can remove them by clicking on the 'X' icon on the top

The "overlay ads" feature on YouTube will disappear from April 6. According to the announcement by the company, this step is being taken to improve the viewer experience. The overlay ads are a popular ad format for desktop users.

"The 'Overlay advertisements' ad format will no longer show on YouTube beginning April 6 to assist improve the viewer experience and transfer interaction to higher performing ad formats on desktop and mobile devices," the company said in a YouTube Help Forum post.

What are "overlay ads"?

These are legacy ads and are displayed only to desktop users. These ads appear at the video's bottom or top as pop-up cards. The viewers can remove them by clicking on the 'X' icon at the top of these ads.

Users who click on these ads are redirected to an external page.

The change is not expected to have much impact on the user experience of the viewers.

"These advertisements are only displayed on the desktop and we expect to see a limited impact for most Creators as engagement changes to other ad forms," the company said.

According to YouTube, most users have moved to other forms of ads on the platform.

What are other forms of ads on YouTube?

Display ads: These ads appear on the right of the feature video on desktop and above the recommended videos on phones as well as desktops. They do not hinder the video stream.

Skippable video ads: These ads play either before or during the main video. Viewers can skip these after 5 seconds.

Non-skippable video ads: These ads have to be watched completely before the main video. These generally last from 15-30 seconds.

Bumper ads: These are non-skippable, but their average length is around 6 seconds. 

Sponsored cards: These ads display promotional products on the screen during the video.