Latest updates
- More flexibility added to the mid-roll ad settings for live streams:
- ‘Take a Break Ads’ when you’re stepping away from the stream. Choose between 1, 3, or 5 minute breaks, and either a default away message or a custom video to show viewers while you’re gone. Eligible viewers will see ads when available during the break.
- ‘Let YouTube insert mid-rolls’ during natural ad breaks, and choose between 3 frequency options for how often ads surface. Creators adopting live automated mid-rolls saw, on average, over 20% uplift in instream ad revenue per hour. This uplift was measured by comparing average instream revenue per hour among channels that enabled live auto mid-roll ads compared to channels not enabled (Averaged across 207 countries, January '24)."
- ‘Choose how mid-roll ads appear’ by setting an amount of time between ads or manually selecting mid-roll ad breaks.
- New ‘Delay Ads’ feature lets you delay mid-roll ads during important moments of your live stream.
- Now you can set default mid-roll ad settings at the channel level for your live streams rather than copying settings from previous live streams. Check the box to use channel level settings when streaming with an encoder.
- View your ad revenue specifically for live streams in YouTube Analytics.
- New option to insert ads using Elgato’s Stream Deck by downloading the YouTube plugin.
You can earn revenue on your live streams by:
- Turning on ads
- Enabling Super Chat & Super Stickers for Live Chat
- Setting up channel memberships
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 monetization is turned on for your live stream, 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 when monetization is turned on.
- Mid-roll ads run during the live stream. These ads can be automatically or manually inserted.
- Display ads are viewable on mobile and a computer.
Enable mid-roll ads
Go live.
.Take a Break
To set a temporary away screen while you’re live streaming, go to Live Control Room, and click the stop watch to set the away time for 1, 3, or 5 minutes. During this time, ads may be shown to eligible viewers. Ads will not run constantly to all viewers, if an ad is not shown then the viewer will see an away slate. You can select the default away slate, or choose a custom video from your library.
Example of Default away slate:
Note: The break does not automatically end when the countdown reaches 0. You must go to Live Control Room to end the break.
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