Next year, YouTube plans to add 30-second bumper ads to the beginning of video clips. I visit the site infrequently to watch the latest, “you gotta see this” video, or to find trailers of older films. You think I’m going to sit through 30 seconds of crap advertising to watch some idiots launch their friend with a giant slingshot? Think again.
No word on whether the ads will be on every video, or whether ads will vary in length. No matter how you cut it, this is bad news for YouTube users, and will surely mark the end of YouTube’s reign as top video-sharing site. What’ll be next?