What you need to know
- Beginning this month, videos in Play Store listings will begin playing automatically.
- Google says this will "help more users discover your content at a glance."
- Developers have been asked to disable monetization in their videos by November 1, 2019 to keep them eligible to be shown on the Play Store.
The Google Play Store recently went through a redesign, bringing a cleaner look and a new front. Google is now introducing another change to the Play Store. Starting this month, videos in app and game listings on the Play Store will begin playing automatically.
According to the Play Console Help page, this is being done in order to "help more users discover your content at a glance." To ensure users don't see ads before the promo video starts playing, developers have been asked to disable ads in their Play Store listings by November 1, 2019.
Google believes if the promo videos are monetized, the ads that they may show "can be confusing for users." Alternatively, developers can upload a different video without monetization claims. In case developers fail to disable monetization or if the promo video uses copyrighted content, the video will no longer play in their store listing after November 1.
Needless to say, the move will not just upset developers but also annoy some users. Even though the "feature" can easily be ignored, it may not go down well with users who are subscribed to a limited data plan.
Unfortunately, Google hasn't revealed yet if it plans to allow users to disable autoplaying videos on the Play Store, at least when using mobile data. The YouTube app, which offers a similar feature, does allow users to disable autoplaying videos.
