YouTube’s “unskippable” ads will be 5 seconds max in one country

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Okay, so I just heard that YouTube is making a change, but it’s only for viewers in Vietnam. Apparently, they’re limiting those pre-roll ads you have to watch before a video to just five seconds long! That’s actually a pretty good change, if you ask me – shorter ads are always welcome.

While sponsored content is a major source of income for many social media creators, a lot of people still try to avoid seeing ads. Ad-blocking software has been popular for years, and social media companies have often tried to stop it from working.

It’s a constant back-and-forth, and many online creators – particularly on YouTube – are now prioritizing ads that fit seamlessly into their videos instead of depending on the platform’s automatically inserted pre-roll and mid-roll ads.

Typically, online ads can play for between five and thirty seconds before you can skip them. But that’s about to change in one country.

Vietnam cracking down on length of online ads

Starting February 15th, Vietnam is restricting how long pre-roll and pop-up ads can display on websites.

New rules, outlined in Decree 342/2025, state that video and animated ads shown online can’t have unskippable portions lasting longer than 5 seconds. The regulations also prevent websites from making viewers wait before they can close still image ads.

This will impact popular platforms like YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and online news sites.

Starting in February 15, Vietnam will pass a law forcing social platforms like YouTube to have maximum wait time of 5 seconds to skip ads
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Although the change has been welcomed by many, others are wondering what impact it will have on platforms and the people who create content for them.

Honestly, I’m a little worried about how this new change will play out. One person pointed out it won’t just be YouTube with shorter ad skips – it feels like we’ll end up seeing more ads, or even getting stuck with a longer string of them before a video starts. Instead of two ads, we might be looking at five or six! It just doesn’t seem like a simple fix.

The new law will make advertisements more honest and help stop scams and fraud. Websites will also need to clearly show how people can report ads that seem suspicious or violate the rules.

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2026-01-06 15:21