On monetized videos that are 8 minutes or longer, you can turn on ads during the middle of the video (known as "mid-rolls").
You can manage mid-rolls on any video regardless of your channel-level upload default. If eligible, you can also enable mid-roll ads for your live streams.
Types of ad slots in YouTube Studio
- Manual ad slots: If you choose to manually place ad slots, you are telling our systems specific places in your video where you would allow an ad to serve. Our ad systems then decide which ad slots may get an ad based on a number of factors to best balance viewer experience, creator earnings, and advertiser value. Ad slots placed at natural breakpoints, such as a pause in audio or transition in visual, are more likely to serve ads as our systems generally find higher viewer retention at these breakpoints. Mid-roll ad slots that can be disruptive to the viewer experience, such as mid-sentence or mid-action are less likely to serve ads.
- Automated ad slots: You can turn on automatically placed mid-roll ads, which means our systems help find natural breakpoints in your video for an ad slot.
- Manual and automatic ad slots: You can supplement your manual ad slots with automatic ad slots. This gives our ads systems more choices to serve ads on your video and could increase your ads opportunities.
Mid-roll quality feedback
This feature helps you see which mid-roll ad slots are unlikely to serve ads. Based on this feedback, you can choose to adjust the ad slot to a more natural breakpoint to increase chances of ads to show.
When first uploading a video and placing manual mid-roll ad slots, the initial feedback generally happens within an hour (though this can take longer especially on longer videos).
After the initial feedback, when you adjust mid-roll ad slots, you will see this information much more quickly, typically in less than a minute.
Manage mid-roll ad slots
Mid-roll ad slots for new uploads
- Sign in to YouTube Studio on Desktop.
- In the top-right corner, click CREATE
Upload videos
.
- Select the file you’d like to upload.
- Under Monetization, select ON for Ads & YouTube Premium.
- Check the box next to “Show mid-roll ads during my video.”
- In the top-right, click Continue
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:
- 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.
- Add an ad slot: Click
- In the top-right, click Continue
After saving your changes, manual ad slots will be checked to see if they’re unlikely to serve ads. If they are, they’ll be shown as red. You can then adjust the mid-roll ad slot by moving it in the timeline or updating the timestamp in the editor.
Mid-roll ad slots for existing uploads
- Sign in to YouTube Studio on Desktop.
- From the left menu, select Content.
- Choose a video, then select Monetization
.
- If you haven’t already, turn on monetization for the video.
- Check the box next to “Show mid-roll ads during my video.”
- In the top-right, click Continue
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:
- Select MANAGE AD SLOTS.
- Add an ad slot: Click
- Delete an ad slot: Click Delete
- Add an ad slot: Click
- In the top-right, click Continue
After saving your changes, manual ad slots will be checked to see if they’re unlikely to serve ads. If they are, you’ll see this in the Monetization tab of your video. You can then adjust the mid-roll by moving the slot or adjusting the timestamp in the editor.
Frequently asked questions
Mid-roll ad slots are not guaranteed to serve an ad. Our ad systems decide which ad slots may get an ad based on a number of factors to best balance viewer experience, creator earnings, and advertiser values.
The feedback feature in YouTube Studio marks certain ad slots in red to indicate it is unlikely to serve ads. We recommend using this feedback to adjust your manual mid-roll ad slots to places in your videos that have a higher likelihood of serving an ad.
What should I do if I’ve turned on automatic ads but no automatic ad slots were inserted?
Does a mid-roll ad slot guarantee that a mid-roll ad will run?
How do I know whether I should use 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 for creator earnings and viewer experience. This is done by evaluating factors like natural visual or audio breaks.
How long does it take for my manual mid-roll ad slot to be reviewed?
When first uploading a video and placing manual mid-roll ad slots, the initial feedback generally happens within an hour of video processing. After the initial feedback, when you adjust mid-roll ad slots, you will see this information much more quickly, typically in a few minutes.