YouTube issue with '5-second countdown' before ads missing or removed still under investigation, no fix in sight

In recent years, online advertising has become an essential aspect of digital marketing. Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Google rely on advertising revenue to support their operations.

One of the most common types of ads on YouTube is the pre-roll ad, which is a short video ad that plays before the main video starts. Pre-roll ads can be either skippable or non-skippable.

YouTube implemented a feature known as the ‘5-second countdown’ that appears on the bottom right corner of the video player, providing viewers with a warning that an ad is about to begin.

Unfortunately, some YouTube users have noticed that the ‘5-second countdown’ before ads has stopped appearing or gone missing for them (1,2,3,4,5).

The affected users say that they noticed that ads start abruptly for them and they don’t get the countdown before it. This is very infuriating, to say the least.

Some viewers appreciate the feature and find it helpful in managing their viewing experience.

They have expressed concern about the feature’s disappearance and the potential impact it may have on their engagement with the platform.

This issue has been reported on multiple platforms, including PC, mobile, TV, and consoles.

Yes, that countdown. It’s been appearing during videos on our Android smart TV app for the last year, if not longer, but a few days ago it suddenly disappeared
Source

on two different device’s ad’s abruptly appear during video playback with no warning. the gray box with the five second countdown does not appear.
Source

Apparently, this issue is not exactly new. In fact, there are reports of users (1,2) experiencing the same situation from some months ago.

Luckily, YouTube support has acknowledged this issue and they have confirmed that the team is working to resolve it as soon as possible. However, there’s no ETA for the fix.

We hope YouTube addresses this issue as soon as possible because it is impacting users’ experience.

That being said, stay tuned to PiunikaWeb to know if and when there are any further developments regarding the issue.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated YouTube section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.