Internet bandwidth and advertising
Here is the YouTube video ad specification:
| Format | H.264 (MP4) |
|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio and Bitrate | 720p or below is required, the optional inclusion of 1080p is recommended (…) mediafile under 1000kbps |
| Audio Format | MP3 or AAC preferred |
| Frames per second | Up to 30fps |
| Maximum file size | 10 MB |
To put in perspective, this is how long it would've taken to download 10 MB over the past decades:
| Technology | Year | Download speed | Seconds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modem (V.34) | 1994 | 28,8 kbit/s | 2912 |
| Modem (V.90) | 1998 | 56,6 kbit/s | 1497 |
| ADSL (Consumer) | 1999 | 256 kbit/s | 327 |
| ADSL (Consumer) | 1999 | 512 kbit/s | 163 |
| ADSL (Consumer) | 1999 | 1 Mbit/s | 83 |
| ADSL (Consumer) | 1999 | 2 Mbit/s | 41 |
| ADSL (Max) | 1999 | 8 Mbit/s | 10 |
| ADSL2+ | 2008 | 24 Mbit/s | 3 |
Who would have waited 24 minutes to watch an ad @ 56k? Even the 41 seconds @ 2M is absurd, considering the average user attention lasts 10 seconds.
No sooner than 2008 is when the strategy of pushing video ads with this quality starts to be viable, and although 10 MB of unwanted data might not seen much, it is still a lot - it's about twice the size of Shakespeare's entire work.