Joe Maring/Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube appears to be testing a mobile livestream ad format that runs in a dedicated space below the video window in place of the live chat area.
- This change allows users to watch live content during commercials, avoiding traditional “commercial breaks” that obscure the entire screen.
- While the video remains visible, early reports indicate that the ad audio still plays on the stream and cannot be muted independently.
reddit user puffballofficial12 Shared that YouTube is now running ads below livestreams on its mobile devices. This means users can continue watching the livestream even if ads are playing, which, believe it or not, would be better than how YouTube currently handles ads during livestreams.
Traditionally, YouTube ads during live streams function like television commercials, completely taking over and overshadowing the content. On mobile devices, this means viewers will often miss key moments of a live event, such as a game-winning play or a breaking news update, while an unskippable 15-second ad plays.
The new ad format changes the geometry of the screen. Instead of an overlay, the ad occupies a dedicated space below the video window on mobile, where live chat used to be.
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However, all is not well with the new ad format. reddit user yurdumins Note that the ad still plays sound, while another user noted that the ad can’t even be muted, so you’ll still have to go back to the livestream to watch the missed content.
General user sentiment appears to be cautiously positive, as this new format seems like the “lesser of two evils”. YouTube would need to figure out a way to prioritize stream audio during an ad, or provide a dedicated mute toggle for the ad window, and most users would be satisfied with the result.
The experiment comes at an important time for the platform. YouTube recently introduced price increases for premium plans, bringing the individual tier to $15.99/month and the family plan to $26.99/month. For many, the value proposition of ad-free viewing is beginning to weaken as subscription fatigue sets in. By introducing a less disruptive live ad format, YouTube may be trying to soften the blow for those upgrading to the ad-supported tier. If the platform can prove that ads don’t mean potentially missing the climax of a live event, it could prevent an exodus of viewers to other platforms like Twitch, which has faced its share of backlash for intrusive mid-rolls.
Like most YouTube features, this appears to be a server-side test that affects a limited number of accounts — I couldn’t trigger concurrent ads during a livestream on my end. There has been no official statement yet on a wider rollout or whether this is anything more than a bug. We’ve contacted Google to learn more about this ad format experiment and will update this article as soon as we learn more.
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