YouTube announces that it plans to improve mid-roll ad quality starting on May 12, 2025. Now the company will start moving ads that viewers could find interruptive over to more “natural break points.”
For instance, an ad that appears during the middle of a sentence, during an action scene, and so on would be considered interruptive. YouTube wants to move these ads to a place in the video that makes more sense and is less likely to cause the viewer to abandon the video, like during pauses or transitions. However, the ad breaks will be less annoying as they won’t get in the way of the action or conversation.
The company also plans to update older videos released before February 24, 2025, with “additional, automatic ad-slots at natural break points” on videos with manual mid-roll ads. However, YouTubers can opt out of this update by going to YouTube Studio and heading to the Earn tab.
For video creators this change could lead to more money. YouTube states that an experiment it conducted in July 2024 found that channels with a mix of manual and auto mid-roll ads saw a 5% increase in YouTube ad revenue. You’ll also have two new tools to try out.
Rolling out this week, you’ll soon have access to a tool called “Feedback in YouTube Studio.” This tool is designed to tell you if your manually placed ads are considered interruptive, allowing you to make changes as necessary.