YouTube age gates:
Videos or brand channels are age-gated by advertiser choice or after a Community Guidelines violation. Only 'of age' viewers can view this content while signed in to YouTube. Sometimes, a video has to be age-gated before an advertiser can use it in an ad (like a Promoted Videos ad for an alcohol campaign). The YouTube age gate is the only option available to age-gating requests on the video watch page.
Demographic targeting by age for ads:
Our policies or advertisers sometimes ask for an ad to be targeted at a certain age demographic. Our ad-serving technology can target these ads based on the birth dates of signed-in YouTube channels. For example, if an ad isn't appropriate for a general audience under our policies, the ad has to be demo-targeted to 18+ viewers. This means that only signed-in viewers that are at least 18 years old will get this ad on our site. Signed-out viewers will get a different ad.
Custom-built age gates:
Alcohol, gaming and movie advertisers can build custom age gates on homepage ads. We allow this because these are highly regulated industries and the YouTube age gate may not meet industry regulations. For example, video-game advertisers might need to meet ESRB guidelines on a mature-rated game. Requests for a custom age gate from these advertisers need to be submitted to the YouTube Ads Policy team for prior approval. Advertisers in all other verticals have to use the standard YouTube age gating features available on brand channels and video watch pages.