YouTube test hides skip button on ads, says its part of a UI update

YouTube ad segments may be annoying for some, but most of these ads can be easily skipped after a few seconds. However, the Google-owned video-sharing platform now seems to be making it harder for users to skip ads, which account for a large portion of the company’s revenue.

A few days ago, several Reddit users said they were seeing a black or grey rectangle on top of the “Skip” button with the countdown timer missing when watching an advertisement on the desktop. Now, a report by AndroidAuthority suggests that the company is also hiding the skip button on the mobile app as well.