Monetize your live stream

Latest updates

You can earn revenue on your live streams by:

Some channels may also have access to channel memberships for their viewers.
Note: If the player is embedded on an external site with auto start, ads will be turned off for your live stream.

Ads on live streams

If your channel is monetized and your live stream is eligible, YouTube will trigger ads to serve on your content. Ad serving is not guaranteed and some viewers may not get an ad. Live streams can be eligible for:

  • Pre-roll ads run before the live stream. These ads are viewable on mobile and a computer. Pre-roll ads are automatically turned on for live streams.
  • Mid-roll ads run during the live stream. These ads can be automatically or manually inserted.
  • Display ads run beside or over content. These ads are viewable on a computer.

Insert mid-roll ads

Insert mid-roll ads for a live stream:

  1. Open YouTube Studio.
  2. Click Create and then Go live.
  3. Start a live stream now from the Stream tab or schedule a live stream from the Manage tab.
  4. From the top, click Edit and then Monetization.
  5. Make sure Monetization is set to On.
  6. Choose your live ad settings:
    1. Let YouTube insert ads for you: YouTube serves mid-roll ads to viewers at opportune moments during a live stream and you choose the frequency level of ad breaks:
      1. Conservative: lowest frequency and lowest earnings potential
      2. Balanced: mid-level frequency and medium earnings potential
      3. Aggressive: highest frequency and highest earnings potential
      4.  Note: We still let you know when an ad is about to display for viewers, in case you want to skip it
    2. Choose how ads appear: You can manually select each mid-roll ad break OR choose the amount of time you want to pass between ads. If you choose to set timed ads, you can choose between 6, 12, 18, 24, or 30 minutes.
      1. Note: Your earnings potential may be lower than when you let YouTube insert ads for you.
  7. Click Next and continue setting up your live stream.
Notes:
  • It is not guaranteed that all viewers will get a mid-roll ad. If no ad runs, viewers will continue to watch your live stream.  
  • If a viewer skips the ad or the ad ends, they will rejoin the live stream.

Delay a mid-roll ad

If you choose to let YouTube insert mid-roll ads for you, you can delay mid-roll ads during important moments when you don’t want viewers interrupted.

In the Live Control Room, go to the top right and click Delay ads . Mid-roll ads are delayed from displaying for viewers for 10 minutes. A 5-second countdown will surface in the LCR for you before ads resume.

Note: Manually placed mid-roll ads will still display when the delay ads feature is turned on.

Channel level settings for mid-roll ads

Monetized channels without rights management can set mid-roll ad defaults for future live streams at the channel level. Channel level settings let you choose monetization settings that will be the default for any newly created live streams.

To choose your channel level settings: Open the Live Control Room and then In the bottom-left corner, click Settings .

Live stream ad revenue

You can view a breakout of your ad revenue from live streams and live replays in YouTube Analytics. To view your ad revenue breakout for live streams, select the Live filter.

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