Mid-roll ads updates explained

Let's talk ads! We know diving into mid-rolls can feel a bit like decoding a secret recipe, so we're here to make it simpler (and hopefully, a little more fun). We're making some tweaks to how ads pop up in your videos, and we’re sharing everything you need to know in this blog and in the video below! Our goal, as always, is to help you maximize your revenue while delivering a great viewing experience for your audience.

Why Are We Making These Changes?

The way people watch content is constantly evolving. Videos are getting longer, viewing habits are shifting, and we need to adapt to ensure ads are delivered effectively. These updates are all about optimizing ad delivery to benefit everyone – creators, viewers, and advertisers.

How Does the Ad System Work?

Think of it this way: you, the creator, designate the parking spots (ad slots) within your video. However, our ad system acts as the valet and parks the car (ads) at spots that we think will be best for the customer, deciding which of those slots will actually be used to show ads. This decision isn't random. It's based on a complex algorithm that takes into account several factors:

• Maximizing Creator Earnings: We want to help you earn as much as possible, plain and simple.
• Viewer Experience: We strive to minimize disruptions and keep viewers engaged.
• Advertiser Needs: We need to deliver value to our advertisers.

More Transparency, More Control

We're committed to providing you with the tools and information you need to make informed decisions. That's why we're now giving you more insights into which ad slots are likely to be used. This added transparency empowers you to optimize your ad placements with greater precision.

And rest assured, you still have control! You can place ad slots wherever you want in your videos.

The Power of Combining Automatic and Manual Ads Slots

We're excited to offer you the flexibility of combining automatic and manual ad slots. This hybrid approach gives you the best of both worlds. In fact, our experiments have shown an average 5% increase in revenue when creators utilize this combination.

Addressing Your Concerns About Automatic Ads Slots

We've heard your feedback about automatic mid-rolls slots, and we're actively working to improve their precision. We're rolling out updates in May that will further refine ad placement based on viewer expectations and content flow. And remember, just because there’s many ad slots doesn’t mean we will serve an ad on each one of them. The ad system serve ads for each viewers’ watch based on many factors to balance revenue with viewer experience. If we were to serve an on every automatic or manual slot, that could make for very disruptive viewer experience!

Timing Is Everything

In May, we will further refine the ad serving system to ensure our ads are more seamlessly integrated with viewer expectations. This means that we’ll serve more ads at natural breakpoints and less ads on more interruptive points. The new feedback in YouTube Studio shows both ad slots that were already unlikely to serve as well as after May so you can adjust your ad slots and increase your ads opportunities.

Guidance for Your Existing Videos

To simplify things, we're offering the option to add automatic mid-roll slots to all your existing videos that only have manual ad slots. You have until May 12, 2025, to opt out of this feature.

For your most popular videos, we recommend taking a hands-on approach. Use the new feedback we provide to manually adjust your ad breaks for optimal performance and, if you’d like, turn on automatic ad slots.

For those of you who only use automatic ads, nothing changes for you.

Where to Place Ads for the Best Results

Think about the natural rhythm of your videos. Avoid placing ads abruptly in the middle of sentences, action sequences, or critical moments. Instead, aim for natural pauses, scene changes, or breaks in the content.

Uploading New Content? Here's What to Do

When uploading new videos, take a look at the automatic ads slots that we first provide. Adjust or remove any of those as you see fit. Then if you’d like, add your own manual mid-roll slots strategically, and use the feedback we provide to fine-tune those manual mid-rolls.

For those of you who only use automatic ads, again nothing changes for you so no worries!

More Data, Better Decisions

We believe that better information powers both Creators’ and YouTube's long-term success. That's why we're committed to providing you with more data and transparency. We want to empower you to make the best possible decisions about mid-roll ads and maximize your success on YouTube.

We hope this clarifies things! For even more information, check out this video!