YouTube Adds (Mid-Roll) Ads To Long Videos By Default [UPDATE: How To Opt-Out]

YouTube video creators will soon need to opt-out of mid-roll advertisements in videos that are 8 minutes or longer. Today, only 10 minute videos (or longer) are eligible for mid-roll ads. By the end of July, 2020, YouTube videos with content that's 8 minutes or longer will have mid-roll ads by default. This goes for all the videos that've been up on YouTube for years, and years – they'll have mid-roll ads too, unless their creators opt-out manually.

Mid-roll ads will be "automatically placed at natural breaks in your videos to balance viewer experience and monetization potential for you." The "you" there refers to YouTube video creators and uploaders of all sorts. This system is optional, but will be turned ON by default if users do not tell YouTube they don't want said ads.

If you are a YouTube creator, you will need to indicate your preference for no mid-roll ads by July 27, 2020. This is not the end-all cutoff date, it's just the date by which you'll need to hit the switch if you do not want to see any mid-roll ads on any of your videos, at any point at all.

If you forget – or do not hit the button before that date for whatever reason – you can still hit the button in the future. Those users that've already included mid-roll ads in their YouTube video collection will not be impacted by this change – since they'll likely just go with the flow anyway.

"As part of this change, mid-roll ads will be turned on for all eligible existing videos and future video uploads, including those videos where you may have previously opted out of mid-roll ads," wrote a YouTube representative. If you are a YouTube creator, head over to YouTube Studio to see about changing your preferences for mid-roll advertisements if that's what you'd like to do – and do it quick, before you forget!