YouTube is making a change users have been begging for, but there’s a catch

Amid a bitter tug-of-war between YouTube and its users over ads, the social media giant appears to be waving a white flag, sort of, but with a catch. YouTube has agreed to cut the amount of ad breaks on its platform for certain long-form content that’s streamed on TVs, but it's stretching the length of each one.

“When it comes to long-form content on TV screens, 79% of viewers would prefer video ads that are grouped together instead of distributed throughout a video,” said YouTube in an announcement. “Based on this preference, we evaluated fewer, longer ad breaks, to create a more seamless viewing experience on the big screen.”

Related: YouTube is cracking down on consumers’ favorite loophole

YouTube also announced that users watching videos on TV screens will be able to see the amount of time left in an ad break until it ends and will have the option to skip it.

Users can also expect to now see ads when watching YouTube Shorts on their TVs. In the announcement, the company highlighted that the change will help brands further reach their audiences.

“The viewer experience for Shorts ads on connected TVs is consistent with mobile, and viewers can use their TV remote to click away from ads just as they would with any other Short,” according to the announcement.

YouTube recently came under fire in early October for expanding the roll out of a notification that limits users who have ad block installed on their devices to watch only three videos on its platform before their video playback is disabled.

The only two solutions that the social media platform offered users was to either delete the ad block from their device or subscribe to YouTube Premium, where they can watch videos ad-free, which is priced at $13.99 a month. The move sparked backlash from users, with some even threatening to stop watching YouTube altogether.

Regardless of the backlash, it appears that YouTube’s crackdown on ads is boosting the company financially. The platform recently reported in its third-quarter earnings for this year that it collected $7.95 billion from ad revenue, which is a 12% increase compared to the same quarter last year.

“The fundamental strength of our business was apparent again in Q3, with $77 billion in revenue, up 11% year over year, driven by meaningful growth in Search and YouTube, and momentum in Cloud,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet, in a press release.

Want to turbocharge your portfolio? Learn from the investing legends and get actionable insights. Start your Real Money Pro membership today.