YouTube Lets Viewers Hide Pop-Up End Screens for Distraction-Free Viewing
YouTube introduces a “Hide” button for end screens, letting viewers watch videos distraction-free. Learn how to remove pop-ups and enjoy uninterrupted video endings.
YouTube’s new “Hide” button lets viewers dismiss end-screen pop-ups for uninterrupted viewing on desktop and mobile.
YouTube is preparing a new set of features that will essentially allow the subscriber to hide all those pop-up end screens that appear during the last few moments of videos, thus restoring a smooth, distraction-free experience for viewing.
Say Goodbye to Annoying End Screens
End screens have been the main interface through which creators promote other videos, playlists, or just generally encourage subscriptions. While legitimate means of channel growth, the overlays have long been considered intrusive by many viewers. After listening to user feedback, YouTube has put a “Hide” button, which will let one temporarily remove these prompts and watch the video till the very end without any distractions.
How the Hide Button Works
A new option “Hide” sits at the upper-right corner of the video player when end screens pop up. If clicked, the entire set of recommendations will be removed and replaced with playlist links and subscription prompts. In case the viewers want to bring back any of the subscriptions, recommendations, playlists, or prompts, they could simply select “Show.” Note that the toggle applies only to the current video; hence, the user will have to do this for any other video.
Improved Desktop Experience
The other new change for desktop users is that an automatic subscribe button will not be triggered when one hovers over a creator’s branded watermark. This change is intended to keep things simple for viewers, while there will still be a normal subscribe button below the video for anyone wishing to support a channel.
Minimal Impact on Creators
YouTube points out that all these changes will have little impact on their creators. According to internal testing, the “Hide” function caused less than a 1.5% reduction in end-screen views, while removing hover-to-subscribe resulted in less than 0.05% of channel subscriptions. Creators can continue to specify up to four interactive elements at the end of their videos, and the watermarks will still serve as branding markers, but the meaning of interaction has now shifted slightly.
Using these updates, YouTube wishes to put a balance between pressuring the creators for their promotion and creating an uncluttered and pleasant viewing experience for audiences.
