Manage mid-roll ad breaks in long videos

Starting May 12, 2025, we'll improve mid-roll quality by showing more ads at natural breakpoints. This will reduce the number of mid-roll ads shown in interruptive ad slots, such as those in the middle of a sentence. We believe showing fewer interruptive ads will result in more views and increase overall revenue opportunity for creators.

To reduce the work of having to check and adjust manual mid-rolls across an entire channel, YouTube will add automatic ad slots to existing videos with manual mid-rolls beginning May 12, 2025. Creators who prefer to manually manage their mid-roll ad slots can opt-out in the Earn tab of YouTube Studio anytime before May 12, 2025:

• If you place mid-roll ad slots at specific intervals like 30 seconds or a minute, and don’t have the time to manually adjust placements, we recommend having YouTube add automatic ad slots to existing videos with manual mid-rolls. This will apply to videos uploaded before February 24, 2025.
• If you already create your content with natural breaks in mind and are intentionally placing mid-roll ad slots, continuing to manually manage might be the right option. You can now check whether any mid-roll ad slots are interruptive and will not show ads by visiting YouTube Studio on desktop, and clicking the “Monetization” tab of any video with mid-roll ad slots.

For more information on these changes, check out the Forum Post.

On monetized videos that are 8 minutes or longer, you can turn on ads during the middle of the video (known as "mid-rolls").

By default, mid-roll ads are automatically placed at natural breaks in your videos to balance viewer experience and monetization potential for you. If you don’t have mid-roll ads turned on as the channel-level default for new uploads, you can turn them on for individual videos. If eligible, you can also enable mid-roll ads for your live streams.

Using Mid-Roll Ads on YouTube

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Open YouTube Studio and visit the Monetization tab on any video to create, preview, and edit automatically placed mid-roll ad slots, or to place ad slots manually. You can manage mid-rolls on any video regardless of your channel-level upload default.

Note: You can currently only turn on or turn off mid-rolls on mobile. To manage and edit mid-roll ad slots, login to YouTube Studio on your desktop.

Manage ad breaks in YouTube Studio

There are 3 ways to place mid-roll ads:

• Automated ad slots: You can turn on automatically placed mid-roll ads, which means we help you find the best natural breakpoints for an ad slot, creating a more balanced experience for viewers.
• Manual ad slots: If you choose to manually place ad slots, try to place them at natural breaks for the best results. Avoid placing mid-roll ad slots at disruptive points, such as mid-sentence or mid-action. If you’ve created your content to build in natural ad slots, you can use manual ad slots to determine when an ad may show.
• Manual and automatic ad slots: You can supplement your manual placements with automatic mid-rolls. This will help us find alternatives to your manual breaks if they are interruptive.

After placing mid-roll ad slots, use the mid-roll quality feedback feature to check if any are interruptive. You can adjust them to natural breakpoints like scene transitions, to improve both the viewer experience and your earnings.

Mid-roll ad slots for new uploads

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio on Desktop.
2. In the top-right corner, click CREATE Upload videos .
3. Select the file you’d like to upload.
4. Under Monetization, select ON for Ads & YouTube Premium.
5. Check the box next to “Show mid-roll ads during my video”.
6. In the top-right, click Continue Save.

By default, automatic mid-roll ad slots are selected for your video. If you’d like to adjust these placements or manually place your own mid-roll ad slots, you’ll need to:

1. Select MANAGE AD SLOTS.
   • Add an ad slot: Click INSERT AD SLOT. Enter the start time of the ad, or drag the vertical bar to the desired time.
   • Delete an ad slot: Click Delete next to the ad slot.
2. In the top-right, click Continue Save.

After saving your changes, manual ad slots will be reviewed to see if they’re interruptive. If they are, they’ll be shown as red and will not show an ad. You can then adjust the mid roll by moving the slot or adjusting the timestamp in the editor.

Note: By default, automatic ad slots will be added on top of your manual ad slots. If you’d like to turn them off, you can uncheck “Automatic ad slots.”

Mid-roll ad slots for existing uploads

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio on Desktop.
2. From the left menu, select Content.
3. Choose a video, then select Monetization .
4. If you haven’t already, turn on monetization for the video.
5. Check the box next to “Show mid-roll ads during my video”.
6. In the top-right, click Continue Save.

By default, automatic mid-roll ad slots are selected for your video. If you’d like to adjust these placements or manually place your own mid-roll ad slots, you’ll need to:

1. Select MANAGE AD SLOTS.
   • Add an ad slot: Click INSERT AD SLOT. Enter the start time of the ad, or drag the vertical bar to the desired time.
   • Delete an ad slot: Click Delete next to the ad slot.
2. In the top-right, click Continue Save.

After saving your changes, manual ad slots will be reviewed to see if they’re interruptive. If they are, they’ll be shown as red and will not show an ad. You can then adjust the mid roll by moving the slot or adjusting the timestamp in the editor.

Mid-roll quality feedback feature

The mid-roll quality feedback feature analyzes your mid-roll ad placements and provides feedback to help you create a less disruptive viewing experience. In order to utilize the feedback feature, ensure that you save an ad slot placement. If your placements are interruptive, the bar will turn red to let you know that the ad slot should be changed. You can then adjust mid-roll ad slots to a natural breakpoint for ads to show. You may also consider adding automatic ad slots on top of manual.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know whether I should use mid-roll ads?

While YouTube can automatically find the best placement for mid-roll ads, you may want to turn off mid-roll ads if not appropriate. For example, meditation videos may not be suitable for mid-roll ads.

How do automatically placed mid-roll ads work?

Automatically placed mid-roll ads aim to balance the viewer experience and creator revenue potential. YouTube’s advanced machine learning technology looks over a large volume of videos and learns to detect the best places for mid-rolls. This is done by evaluating factors like natural visual or audio breaks.