YouTube Ads Are About To Get Less Annoying, But There’s Bad News

If you’re not a YouTube Premium member, then you’re probably used to seeing ads pop up during longer videos. These mid-roll ads are a reality, and they’ve been pretty annoying. well, according to a new report, YouTube will improve the way it handles mid-roll ads.

The main issue with YouTube ads, besides their frequency, is their timing. Mid-roll ads (ads that pop up during a video as opposed to before it) have a tendency to appear at random spots. They could pop up in the middle of a sentence or interrupt a certain YouTuber’s device bend test. In any case, it’s always annoying when you’re trying to watch a video, and an ad comes on in the middle of something important.

YouTube could improve its mid-roll ads

It seems that the video-sharing platform has heard the cries of the community. The company just announced that it’s going to change the way it shows mid-roll ads. It will move ads to more natural break points during videos.

This means that you won’t see ads appearing during sentences or important events. Rather, you’ll most likely see them appear during scene transitions or breaks in the action. Maybe a video could show ads right before the final reveal of something.

While this has a benefit for the viewer, it can also prove useful for the creator. According to YouTube, this new update could lead to creators making 5% more ad revenue. This is based on a test it performed back in July last year.

However, users won’t be able to benefit from this change for a little while longer. YouTube won’t update its ad system until May 12th. So, users will have to wait a couple of months for the newer ads.

There’s more bad news

There are two ways to manage ads. You can have them placed automatically or you could place them manually. Well, if you place your ads manually, and they’re placed in interruptive spots, then you might see a decrease in ad revenue. So, if your ads interrupt the action, this might be an incentive not to do so. In any case, you’ll have a couple of months to make any appropriate changes.