Vietnam now requires skippable YouTube ads in 5 seconds. The rule is now already in effect, and it was announced in January. This mandate comes from Vietnam’s latest advertising regulation, which was directly issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications. It applies to online video ads, directly targeting un-skippable advertisements that interrupt viewing.
A very common complaint with the free YouTube experience is unskippable, one-minute-long ads. This law in the country now addresses the problem. The official directive from Vietnam is part of an ongoing effort to improve the user experience, and it keeps digital advertising within fair limits. The timeline and enforcement windows were confirmed last month, and the requirement is now fully enforced.
Globally, YouTube is obviously very different. We get unskippable ads that are sometimes over a minute long, and then at times, it’s two ads in a row that we cannot skip. This severely hampers the experience, and YouTube makes it annoying on purpose to funnel more users into their monthly YouTube Premium subscription. The ad situation globally is so bad that users have reported experiences of 6 ads for a 20-minute video.
In Vietnam, the free version of YouTube is now quite usable, since the user only has to endure 5 seconds of ads before getting to the main content.
Recently, there has been a significant pushback from YouTube regarding ad blockers as well. We’ve highlighted much of the new crackdown on our sister site PiunikaWeb. YouTube makes the experience much slower, displays warnings, blocks the entire video from playing sometimes, or introduces artificial performance issues like lag or slow buffering. This severely impacts the experience. Sometimes, even the ‘Skip ad’ button entirely vanishes, leaving users quite frustrated.
Proton VPN leaned into the moment with a viral post, mocking the global ad situation on YouTube and praising Vietnam’s approach.
You can use any VPN that has a server in Vietnam, and your ads will not last more than 5 seconds. If the ad is longer than 5 seconds, a skip button will appear instantly, even if it’s originally supposed to display two advertisements in a row. We have tested this on our own devices, and we can confirm it works. Check the screenshots below for reference:
We hope more countries adopt Vietnam’s 5-second rule, since it’s a very effective fix for ad-fatigue. A harsh crackdown is a very simple solution to the ad spam problem, and it’s possible that other countries will eventually start demanding something similar.
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Dwayne Cubbins
1425 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
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