YouTube is making changes to its ad placement process. The platform intends to use data to improve where ads are automatically placed within videos, particularly mid-roll ads which commonly frustrate users with jarring pop-ups. From 12 May onwards, YouTube will be more deliberate with its process, taking more care to place ads at less disruptive points.
Fewer ad jumpscares on YouTube
It’s a known trope that there’s no rhyme or reason to the way the algorithm places ads within a video. You can expect one or two at the beginning, and from then on you’re at its mercy. Oftentimes the random airbomb of an ad is so sudden people would rather click away to another video altogether. YouTube wants to remedy that.
The company announced the change via a Help page, explaining how it intends to improve the placement of mid-roll ads by reducing the number of disruptions to keep users engaged with the video. The algorithm will apparently find speech pauses or scene transitions for its ads to hopefully make the viewing experience smoother. The update will also be retroactively applied to older videos.
Creators who want more control over ad placement in their videos can opt out of the feature in YouTube Studio’s settings and continue to manually flag places in their videos for ad placement. The platform advises creators to be intentional with where they manually place ads, as it could benefit their video watch time. The video-sharing site will also provide stats and data to determine which ads users find disruptive so creators can improve and fine-tune their placement strategy.
At face value, this seems like a welcome improvement to the free YouTube experience. It’s unclear if the change will roll out gradually around the world, starting 12 May 2025, or will be available to everyone immediately. What is clear, however, is that we will never escape ads without coughing up for YouTube Premium. So the least YouTube can do is make them more palatable.
