Excuse Me: YouTube Will Start Running Ads on All Videos Regardless of Monetisation

Whyyyy tho?

So, earlier this week YouTube updated its terms of service, and while this is usually no biggie ('cos most of us don’t pay much attention to it anyway), this update had one very small but crucial change in it.

Instead of continuing the way they always have with ads and monetisation, the online video service will start putting ads on basically all videos that are brand-friendly, even if they aren’t monetised.

Frankly, this is awful news; ya girl is not a fan of those 30 second unskippable ads.

If you’re not quite sure what this means, creators who choose to make money from their content (and obviously get enough views to do so) make that money by partnering with YouTube and monetising their videos.

Advertisers then pay YouTube to place their ads before, after and sometimes during videos, and YouTube then pays creators a little bit to have those ads appear.

Historically, this would only happen if the creator monetised the video and if the video was deemed advertiser friendly by YouTube (which basically means videos that are PG).

However, from now on in the US and mid-2021 for the rest of the world, ads will play on any and all videos that are advertiser friendly, even if they’re not monetised (yuck).

The update in their terms of service says “ads can now appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), and we will begin gradually placing ads on brand safe videos".

So, essentially, we’re going to have to put up with more of the same annoying ads. I dunno about you, but I always get the same ad over and over and over again.

It’s also a bit of an unfair deal for creators because it also strips YouTubers from making the decision about whether or not they want to play ads on their videos. This is why many creators have switched to Patreon support and stopped YouTube ad revenue altogether.

"This is part of our ongoing investments in new solutions, like Home Feed ads, that help advertisers responsibly tap into the full scale of YouTube to connect with their audiences and grow their businesses," YouTube said.

I think now's the time to get YouTube Premium I guess.

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