You can now make more money from YouTube videos by adding MID-ROLL ads to videos that are only 8 minutes in length instead of the previous 10 minute length
I’m going to show you how to monetize your YouTube videos with the new mid-roll ads, so you can make more money from YouTube channel. You’ll learn how mid-roll ads work, how to enable them on your channel, and whether you should let YouTube add them automatically, or you add them manually yourself.
Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.
Here’s a pre-roll ad that plays before your video (watch video above), which viewers can choose to skip. Here’s a mid-roll ad that YouTube automatically added at the 15 minute mark, and viewers can choose to skip it. Here’s a post-roll ad that plays after your video has ended, and viewers can choose to skip it also.
The latest update from YouTube says that videos now longer than 8 minutes are eligible for mid-roll ads. As a result of this change, mid-roll ads will be turned on automatically for all existing videos and future uploads. This includes those videos we have previously opted out of mid-roll ads.
Videos that are already enabled for mid-roll ads will not be impacted. If you don’t want YouTube to automatically place mid-roll ads in videos that are over 8 minutes long, make sure you adjust them manually. You can do this using the ad breaks tool, which I’ll show you later. If you select automatic placement, mid-roll ads will be replaced automatically at natural breaks throughout your video, according to the viewer experience or monetization potential.
After making these changes, you can still turn off mid-roll ads and adjust them manually. Just keep in mind YouTube tries to find the best ad placements based upon changing scenes, where the conversation ends, or there is a transition to a new topic.
In my experience, when I left YouTube to place the ad breaks automatically, it didn’t place them at the end of the sentence, changing of a scene, or during the transition. As you can see on my live stream video (watch video above), I’d added a bunch of ad breaks all the way through my video. From a viewers standpoint, this would probably upset me and I’d stop watching the video.
Therefore, I highly recommend placing the ad breaks manually so you have more control over where they are placed in your video.
YouTube recommends automatic placement, because it’s easy for you, it’s the best experience for viewers, and there’s a great likelihood that an ad will be placed in your video.
My preference is to have more control and select my own ad breaks so I don’t upset my viewers and cause them to leave my video. If most viewers leave your video while watching it, then YouTube won’t promote your videos in the search engines and the suggested videos. Therefore, keep an eye on your audience retention graph to see if viewers are dropping off during your ad placement.
How To Manually Place Mid-Roll Ads In Your YouTube Videos
Sign in to YouTube studio and click on the videos tab. Select the video that’s more than eight minutes long. I’m going to select this video. Click on monetization. If monetization’s turned off, turn it on. Click next. If the content doesn’t violate any of YouTube’s community policies or guidelines, then select none of the above. After that, click submit. Now you can select the type of ads that you wish to display on your videos. Display ads is automatically checked. I usually select overlay ads, skippable video ads. Under location of ads,
I select before the video, which is a pre-roll ad, during the video, which is a mid-roll ad because this video is over eight minutes long, and after the video, which is a post-roll ad.
If I click on manage mid-roll ads, I can select place automatically. It says change existing ad breaks. Existing ad breaks will be removed. One or more new ad breaks will be placed in natural gaps in your video. You can adjust where they’re they’re placed. I can also click ad break and do them manually. All I have to do is just adjust the timeline here, where I want to put the ad break. This will typically be at the end of a sentence, between scenes, or during a transition.
The best way to do this is to just scrub through your video and select the best place to place your mid-roll ad. You can also choose the time that you wish to start the ad and the video. You can discard the changes, or you can click continue. I’m going to click continue. You just click save changes.
That’s all there is to it.
Let me ask you a question. Do you typically turn on ads right after you upload a video, or do you wait a few hours?
Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would too.
What are the minimum eligibility requirements to enable mid-roll ads or any other type of ads on your YouTube videos?
- Your channel must have 4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months.
- You must live in a country or region where the YouTube partner program is available.
- You must follow all YouTube’s monetization guidelines and policies. For example, if you have multiple strikes on your YouTube videos, you won’t be able to monetize your channel.
- You also must link an AdSense account to your YouTube account. After you’ve met the requirements for the YouTube partner program, YouTube will confirm your channel monetization after one month review process.
Set Default Ads Formats Or Not?
If you select upload defaults in monetization settings, then YouTube will automatically place ads in your videos. If you want to do this, click on settings in YouTube studio, then click on upload defaults. Click the monetization tab, then select the types of ads that you want displayed on your videos. Under location of ads, you can check the box. It says during video, which has mid-roll ads. After you’ve selected your options, just click save.
Best Practises
- Ads can be placed automatically or manually.
Even though YouTube suggests automatic placement, I have discovered that the ad breaks are not necessarily put at the end of sentences or between scenes. Therefore, I highly recommend adding your own breaks, especially when it comes to mid-roll ads. - Place ads at natural breaks in your sentences instead of mid-sentence or mid-action.
If you place an ad in the middle of a sentence, it’ll disrupt the flow of the content, and also it’ll distract the viewer from watching your video. Natural breaks can be added during transition scenes or when changing topics. - Check your audience retention graph to see if the ad breaks affect the audience retention of your videos.
If you discover that mostly viewers are leaving right when the mid-roll ad starts, then I highly recommend eliminating the mid-roll ad altogether. Ideally, you want to keep viewers engaged throughout your videos so that YouTube will promote your video in the search engines and YouTube suggested videos. - Ads won’t always appear on your videos when you add mid-roll ads.
This is because ads are not always available at the time of viewing. It also protects viewers on how often they see the ad.
How To Increase Ad Revenue
- Place multiple ads in your videos.
If you had monetization enabled for your channel, you can place a pre-roll ad at the beginning of your video, a post-roll ad at the end of your video, and if your video is over eight minutes long, you can add mid-roll ads. Just keep in mind you don’t want to distract your viewers by placing too many ads in your video. - Choose a niche or topic that is a high CPM.
CPM refers to Cost Per Thousand views. If you choose a niche or topic with a high CPM, you’ll make more ad revenue. The countries with the highest CPM, according to my channel, is United States, Australia, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, et cetera. If most of the ads come from countries for the low CPM, you’ll generate less revenue from your ads. - Double down on videos that generate the most revenue from your ads.
If you go into YouTube studio and click on the revenue tab and YouTube analytics, you’ll see the top earning videos on your channel. If you want to increase more revenue from YouTube ads, then double down on the topics that generate the most revenue.
You can approach the topic from different angles, showcase studies and comparisons. You can also see which ad types generate the most revenue on your channel. If it’s skippable video ads, definitely use those.
Currently on my channel, skippable video ads account for 80% of the ad revenue. Non-skippable ads only account for 0.1% ad revenue. I definitely don’t want to use those.
Just keep in mind that your ad revenue will fluctuate during the year. For instance, around Christmas time, ad revenue will increase because more advertisers are getting on board for Christmas.
How can you make money if you haven’t met the requirements of the YouTube partner program of 4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months?
No worries. Just watch my next video on how you can make money from YouTube without AdSense ads.
Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.
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