Advertisers purposefully make the video files for their ads as small as possible, so that they will load quickly.
They do this for two main reasons: 1) the smaller the ad video file, the faster it loads, meaning users are less likely to click off the video because the ad that plays before it is taking too long to load.
And 2) if the ad video file is small enough, it can be played on weaker internet connections, like 3G and low speed Wi-Fi, meaning more opportunities for their ads to be viewed.
We’ve all been there – you load up a YouTube video and are hit with YouTube ads instantly. No surprise there. But then the YouTube video itself starts buffering.
What? The ad loaded straight away, so clearly my internet connection is fine. So why is the YouTube ad loading faster than the content?
Let’s take a look.
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Why do YouTube ads load faster than the content?
There are a few factors that lead to YouTube ads loading faster than the YouTube videos themselves. These can be summed up as YouTube ads being small file sizes, YouTube ads being a lot shorter than YouTube videos, and poor internet connection.
YouTube ads are small file sizes
Advertisers purposefully make the video files for their YouTube ads as small as possible, so that they will load quickly.
They do this for two main reasons. The first is that the smaller the YouTube ad video file, the faster it will load for the user who sees it, meaning those users are less likely to click off the video because the ad that plays before it is taking too long to load.
The second reason is that if the YouTube ad video file is small enough, it can be played on weaker internet connections, meaning more opportunities for their ads to be viewed.
Think about it – if the advertiser can make their YouTube advert load easily on weaker internet connections like 3G and low-speed Wi-Fi, they have a massive edge over other advertisers whose ads are simply too large to load on those connections in a reasonable time.
YouTube ads being a lot shorter than YouTube videos
The second factor leading to YouTube ads loading faster than the content is the fact that YouTube ads are a lot shorter than the actual YouTube videos.
Non-skippable video ads on YouTube are 15-20 seconds in length, as per YouTube Help. YouTube videos however are far longer than this.
A study by Statista found that the average YouTube video length at the time was 11.7 minutes, with the category of YouTube videos being the shortest length – music – averaging 6.8 minutes.
So just on a like-for-like basis, the shorter video is always going to load faster than the longer video, regardless of whether that shorter video is an ad or not.
Frustrating I know, but that’s how internet load speeds work! And, talking about internet speeds…
Poor internet connection
A poor internet connection will more than likely be the leading culprit when determining why YouTube ads load faster than the content.
Despite internet connections getting better globally year by year, there are still a lot if instances where your internet connection just won’t load your video that quickly.
Maybe it’s when you’re in a rural place on your smartphone and can only get a weak 3G connection. Or maybe it’s if you’re in a certain part of your house where the Wi-Fi connection isn’t that strong.
Whatever it may be, a poor internet connection is made all the more annoying when those YouTube ads seem to be able to load with no issues.
So, there we have it. If you’ve ever wondered why YouTube ads load faster than the content, now you know.
Frequently asked questions
Why do internet ads load faster than the actual content?
Sadly, it’s a generally accepted rule that any internet ads will load faster than the content itself. It’s true for YouTube ads, and it’s true for other internet ads too, like display banner ads.
This happens for a variety of factors, but the most common reason is that the advert you see is not stored on the same server as the content, so they don’t load at the same time.
When you couple this with the fact that internet ads are often small, lightweight files that are specifically designed to load even on weak internet connections, it’s highly probably that ads will load before the content the majority of the time.
Why is YouTube showing more ads than usual?
YouTube has started showing more ads than usual because they have started playing two pre-roll ads back-to-back before your video starts playing.
There are two reasons for this. The first is, put simply, it makes YouTube more money. If they can get each user to watch more ads, they can sell more of the ad space to advertisers, growing their ad revenue in the process.
The second reason for YouTube showing more ads is because YouTube has started pushing shorter ads as the best way to advertise on the platform.
For advertisers, it means their ads are unskippable, so their ads won’t be butchered. And for Google, they can fit two shorter ads into the space that one longer ad would have taken.
Learn more about: Why are YouTube ads unskippable?
Does paying for YouTube stop ads?
In short, yes. YouTube has a subscription service called YouTube Premium, that allows you to pay a monthly subscription fee and not have to watch any ads while using the platform.
Learn more about: How much is ad free YouTube?