Teens love YouTube — except for the ads
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 10 September 2017

Teenagers think YouTube has too many ads, even though they still watch it, as eMarketer reveals that 23.2 million 12 to 17-year-olds watch digital video monthly this year.


And according to Forrester, YouTube is the platform they use the most on a daily basis. In fact, more than 77% of teens use it daily, compared with 55% who use Facebook, the second most popular social network.

However, they complain about the ads. More than 40% of teen users think there are too many ads on YouTube. In comparison, 26% said the same about Facebook. Snapchat and Instagram got good marks on this though, with just 10% saying there are too many ads.

However, the difference between those perceptions likely has to do with the types of ads that are served. For instance, only 17% of teen viewers thought skippable pre-roll ads were annoying, after viewing 15-second ads on both smartphones and desktop/laptop computers.

“Teens might think there are too many ads on YouTube because YouTube ads are pre-roll or sometimes mid-roll video ads that users have to either watch, or click to skip after a few seconds,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, in an analysis of the report. “They may be more likely to skim right by ads that appear on Facebook or other social platforms, as the ads are native to the service,” she said.