>I guess it's because they want to sell "video inventory" to their advertisers. But why really? My guess is because the non-modal video ads are the only things

>I guess it's because they want to sell "video inventory" to their advertisers. But why really? My guess is because the non-modal video ads are the only things that a human can not ignore easily. Banner blindness is a thing and I'm pretty sure we are great at "blocking" everything around the video (that we actually want to look at). So the only option is to withhold what we want (the content) until we consumed what we don't want (the ad).