YouTube Proposed a New Concept for Video Ads

Midroll ad breaks on YouTube can be disruptive, but they are especially distracting when they appear in the middle of a live stream. YouTube seems to have acknowledged this and is trying various ways to deliver midroll advertising.

YouTube launched the live midroll ad style in 2023. It allowed content creators to intercut commercial breaks into their live broadcasts (YouTube advertising can be introduced automatically or manually). These full-screen advertisements interrupt the stream to play their video and audio content while the stream continues in real time. They’re tolerable in conventional videos because they resume where you left off before the commercial break, but the midroll ad format breaks the immersion in a live broadcast. Some creators do not enable viewers to rewind live streams, so you may miss the stream while an ad plays.

To solve the issue, YouTube said that it will test a picture-in-picture (PiP) format for midroll ad breaks during live streaming. Per Google, “some viewers on select devices will begin to see the new ad format in the coming weeks, allowing creators to run ads without disrupting the live stream!”

Picture-in-picture is the most appropriate method for displaying advertisements during a live stream. However, YouTube has not provided any technical information for this experiment. With a picture-in-picture commercial, viewers will most likely see a small floating pop-up ad as the stream continues in the background. We may also assume it won’t play its audio over the stream, which means YouTube will silence these ads by default.

YouTube experimental features are tested with a limited number of viewers to gain feedback. The comments will determine whether or not this PiP live midroll ad type is released to the public.