YouTube’s midroll ad breaks can be disruptive, but it’s even more intrusive when these ads pop up in the middle of a live stream. YouTube seems to have recognized as much, and it’s testing alternative solutions to present midroll ads.
YouTube introduced the live midroll ad format back in 2023. It gave creators the option to insert ad breaks into their live streams (ads can be placed manually or automatically by YouTube). These are full-screen ads that stop the stream and play their own video and audio content, while the stream continues in real time. They’re tolerable on regular videos because the video picks up right where you left off before the ad break, but the midroll ad format interrupts the immersion in a live stream. Some creators don’t allow viewers to rewind live streams, so you might just miss the stream while the ad plays.
To address the problem, YouTube announced that it’s testing a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) format for midroll ad breaks during live streams.
Google says, “some viewers on select devices will begin to see the new ad format in the coming months, allowing creators to run ads without disrupting the live stream!”
Picture-in-Picture is the most reasonable format to present any ads during a live stream. But YouTube hasn’t shared any technical details for this experiment. Presumably, with a Picture-in-Picture ad, the viewers will only see a small floating pop-up ad while the stream continues in the background. We can also assume it won’t play its own audio on top of the stream, meaning YouTube will mute these ads by default.
YouTube experimental features are rolled out to a small group of viewers to gather feedback. The feedback will decide if this PiP live midroll ad format sees a public release.
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