I think I respect my viewers a lot more than other creators respect theirs.
I’m officially what’s referred to as a YouTube Creator. That’s someone who regularly creates content for publication on YouTube, a platform that gets thousands, if not millions, of new videos a day. Much of that is junk but a lot is actually good, valuable content. And some is really high quality, useful/entertaining material. I like to think that my content falls into that middle category — better than junk but not as good as the really high quality stuff. I do what I can with the materials and skills I have. And unlike other Creators there, this isn’t my full-time job and I don’t have a bunch of corporate sponsors feeding me cash. I set priorities in my life and YouTube content creation isn’t at the top of that list.
If you like helicopters and/or flying and want to watch videos about helicopters/flying without a lot of hype, I hope you’ll try my channel, FlyingMAir. Many of the videos put you in the cockpit with me as I fly around and talk about what I’m seeing and doing. If you like it, subscribe and tell your friends.
That said, I am fortunate enough to be allowed to monetize my channel. I have 63,000+ subscribers (as I type this), a number that has been climbing steadily for the past few years. I’m not sure if the requirement is 1,000 subscribers or 10,000 subscribers for monetization, but I’ve met it. That means that I get a teeny tiny cut of whatever YouTube gets for placing ads before, after, and possibly during my content.
How teeny? It’s currently hovering around $3 per 1,000 views. So yeah — when 1,000 people watch one of my videos, I currently get about $3. Not exactly a wealth building opportunity for me. Sunday’s video, which has been out for 48 hours as I’ve typed this, has earned me about $5. (Thanks, viewers!)
Of course, one of the reasons this number is so low is because I only allow three kinds of advertising on my content and I allow them in only two places. Yes! Creators can specify what kinds of ads appear and when they appear! There are five kinds and three locations and this image from one of my video’s settings pretty much explains them:
This is how I normally set options for my videos.
YouTube’s advice — which apparently lots of Creators heed — is to turn on all ad options. YouTube wants the opportunity to sell ads everywhere, even though it does not display ads on all videos. (It’s about 60% for mine and I only make money on my videos when ads are displayed on them.)
My school of thought is this: I need ads on my videos to monetize them. (Yes, I know I’ve got Memberships and Patreon set up for my channel but not everyone can or wants to chip in with real money. Honestly, without monetization, I would not be motivated to create content regularly.) But I don’t want ads to ruin the viewing experience. So where can I put them to be the least obnoxious? The answer is before and after the video using ads that don’t obstruct or interrupt the content. That’s the settings you see above.
Some of my older videos might have Overlay ads and Sponsored cards selected, so don’t be surprised if you see some of those for content published before mid 2019. I don’t think I have During video turned on for any videos. And that’s what this post is about: mid-roll ads that appear during the video.
I’m a big YouTube viewer. I don’t have regular TV in my home. No cable or satellite, no antenna to pick up local broadcasts. I have whatever my smart TV or laptop can pick up through a wicked fast fiber Internet connection: Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and a variety of other channels I subscribe to or get for free like PBS, Lynda.com, and the Great Courses. I use YouTube to learn new things — even things I don’t need to know — and get ideas. To keep my brain going.
And, as a YouTube viewer, there is one thing I absolutely cannot stand: mid-roll ads. You know what I’m talking about. The ads that appear suddenly and without notice, sometimes in the middle of an onscreen sentence, disrupting the video with something you absolutely do not care about.
This “card” appeared in my YouTube Studio dashboard about a month ago and is still there.
Until recently, mid-roll ads were only available on videos 10 minutes long or longer. But recently, YouTube announced to creators that the ads were now available to videos 8 minutes long or longer. And oh, by the way, this feature will be turned on by default for all your new videos unless you change it by a certain date. (I immediately changed it for my channel.)
I need to point out something important here. Creators who enable mid-roll ads have the ability to specify points where the ads may appear. So say a Creator has made a video that shows a 4-step process with cuts between each step. Logically, a good place to put a mid-roll ad would be at one of those cuts. This is less intrusive in the content. But what I’ve seen lately as the number of mid-roll ads grows on YouTube is that Creators aren’t bothering to set up ad locations. They’re just letting them appear wherever YouTube puts them. The ultimate in annoying for viewers.
To me, allowing mid-roll ads to interrupt your content in such an annoying way is the ultimate way to tell your viewers that you don’t give a damn about their viewing experience. The only thing that matters to you is the fractions of pennies of ad revenue you’ll get by allowing that ad to appear.
And I think there’s something seriously wrong with that attitude.
I’ll admit it here: I’ve begun leaving comments on videos with disruptive ads asking the Creator to turn off mid-roll ads. And I think you should, too.
Of course, there is a way to get rid of all ads on YouTube — and it doesn’t necessarily hurt Creators. You can sign up for YouTube Premium. My understanding is that for $11.99/month, in addition to adding features to YouTube, it also removes ads from content. If you watch enough YouTube, you might find it worthwhile. I don’t watch that much YouTube and I’d rather see my money go directly to a Creator via Membership or Patreon support.
The only thing I’m really left wondering about is this: because I have disabled some YouTube ad options — rather than turning them all on as YouTube recommends — am I triggering some sort of penalty that keeps my videos out of search results? Is there some under-the-hood activity in the bowels of YouTube that will punish me for not flooding my videos with ads by simply limiting the number of potential new viewers? That’s something I’ll likely never know.
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Thank you for these details! Regarding the “Skippable” ads: what happens if I skip an ad – do you get anything? Or in the 2-ad situation, what if I watch one, then bail – anything for you in that scenario?
Reality is that I’m willing to watch (some) ads – I get that it helps you! – but if I knew more about these details I could “work the system” on your behalf ☺ (I mean, YouTube certainly seems to work it for THEIR benefit).
Thanks again!
I suspect that if any part of an ad plays, that counts as a play and I get my penny fractions. If the ad is completely skipped, I probably don’t.
I appreciate your support!
Great points!
In my opinion, I feel confident that YouTube has some algorithms that limit a creator based on ad exposure. Not that I necessarily think that’s right but it is entirely possible that creators that allow more ads in turn get more exposure.
Now I don’t have a problem with multiple ads running during a video. (I’m only a patreon on your channel) For me, ads give me an opportunity to do other things all while still watching the video.
Finally, I appreciate your thoughtfulness for all of your subscribers!
As always, I look forward to your writing!
Thanks Maria!
Becky
The ad breaks are always short, which is good if you’re watching but not good if you want to take a pee or grab a glass of water. Not like TV. When they appear randomly, in the middle of a speaker’s sentence, it drives me absolutely insane. If I ever started using them, I’d build in ad “cuts” and make sure they appeared there. But my videos generally don’t have good cut spots, so you probably won’t see any mid-roll ads.
And I sure do appreciate your continued support!
Thank you for your blog posting regarding the ad insertions on YouTube – your comments, as a content creator, about YouTube mid-roll ads are spot on… And, I like that you leave comments on YouTube (or other commercial video platforms) videos asking the content creator to switch off mid-roll ads…
Recently, a YouTube video I was watching had an ad pop-up in the middle of the person speaking and it just ruined the whole viewing experience for me… I left a lengthy comment regarding the annoying mid-roll ad and the content creator’s reply was short and curt: ‘sorry. no ads, no videos’
I would pay for YouTube premium to not have to watch videos annoying interrupted by mid-roll ads but being retired and on a fixed monthly income, it’s out of the question… YouTube gives a ‘student discount’ on the monthly charge but no discount for retired seniors (old folks) on a fixed income… Go figure…
Thanks again for your informative posting…
I also think that YouTube Premium is too expensive to pay for. I think if they dropped the price to about $5/month, I’d go for it. I can’t see paying more for YouTube — which has a LOT of crappy content to weed through — than Netflix or Disney Plus.
I understand the “no ads, no video” comment, though. It’s a ton of work to make videos and the cameras, mounts, video software, and computers aren’t free. What I don’t understand is why that creator doesn’t CHOOSE the place to put the ad — it’s possible, you know. Some savvy creators actually leave perfect cut spots in their videos and tag those spots for YouTube to place the ads. Yes, it’s more effort on their part, but if I ever DO allow mid-roll ads, that’s how I’d do it. User experience is important. Although I’d do better with mid-roll adds, I’m okay with starting and ending ads and the monthly contributions made by channel members and patreons.
Thanks for the response, Maria; appreciate it…
The one thing I totally get, and understand, is the amount of time and equipment it takes to make professional looking videos; I have worked in the field of film and television and know the amount of investment it takes to produce quality videos (or ‘old school films’)
For the YouTube channels I watch – those that aren’t crappy content-wise – I now leave a comment thanking the creator for not letting YouTube run mid-roll ads; not ‘letting’ in the sense that I’m thinking the creator switched off mid-roll ads… Though, I think you are correct in that a lot of creators don’t know how to do that…
Anyway, again, I appreciate you taking the time to write what you did and responding… I think the mid-roll ad issue isn’t going to go away anytime soon unless content creators out there come to understand what a ‘pittance’ in ad revenue they are receiving from YouTube for such a thing… When content creators come together and start discussing it, mid-roll ads are more than likely here to stay… Viewers really don’t have that much control..
A Happy 2020 Holiday Season to you… May 2021 be a good year to you and your flying…! (Love the helicopter!)
I honestly think YouTube wants to maximize annoying ads to get more people to subscribe to (and pay for) the ad-free version. But until the price comes down, I’m not springing for it. I can’t see paying more for the mostly amateur content on YouTube than I pay for quality content on Disney Plus or Netflix.
Mid-roll ads are obnoxious for most shorter videos (I’d draw an absolute line around 20 minutes or less), but they are appropriate for very long videos. I have several computer repair videos where I do not edit them down much so that the viewer can see the full process of the repair, and some of them are 30 to 100(!!!) minutes in length. When the video length is so huge, throwing a mid-roll in for every half-hour of content seems fair enough. For my videos under 20 minutes, I disable mid-rolls because I think interrupting after a short time like that is a great way to chase off the person watching (and it certainly chases me off).
I agree with you on this. I’ve begun thinking about adding in-roll adds at specific places for some of my videos. But it has to be at a natural break point. And I certainly wouldn’t do it in a video shorter than 30 minutes.
The sad truth is that YouTube promotes videos with as much advertising as possible. So making a few with in-roll ads could get my channel more exposure. It sure makes me feel as if I’m selling out,though.