You can skip this ad in a year: YouTube drops 30-second commercials

But the ban on the hated advertising format will not take effect for a year.

A Google spokesman told the BBC: “We’ve decided to stop supporting 30-second unskippable ads as of 2018 and focus instead on formats that work well for both users and advertisers.”

YouTube makes money from placing adverts against videos and, in some cases, giving the uploaders a percentage of the revenue.

Uploaders can choose which advertising formats to allow on their “channels”, but not all are aware of the options.

Musicians have accused the site of failing to pay its fair share of royalties to artists last year, following the publication of figures by industry body IFPI.

Katy Perry was among the artists campaigning for a change in the law to force YouTube to take down unlicensed, user-uploaded versions of their songs.