Those mid-roll YouTube ads are about to get less frustrating

Picture this—you’re watching an interesting video on YouTube, and just as it’s about to get to the good stuff, an ad pops up and immediately kills the mood. Sound familiar? You’re not alone if you’ve let out a silent scream when this happens. But for once, YouTube is taking the side of its viewers by announcing an update to mid-roll ads.

Ads on YouTube have always felt overly aggressive and invasive. This is why many users rely on ad blockers just to enjoy their videos. Rather than trying to force users into watching ads, YouTube is tweaking how mid-rolls work to make them less annoying.

According to YouTube, mid-roll ads will now appear at “natural break points”—pauses or transitions in the video where an interruption feels less jarring. This means no more ads cutting off a sentence mid-speech or ruining a dramatic moment.

The best part? Creators who use automatic mid-rolls don’t need to do anything—these changes will be applied automatically. For those who manually place ads, YouTube Studio will now provide feedback, helping creators avoid ad placements that feel too disruptive.

If YouTube gets this right, mid-roll ads might finally feel less like an interruption—and more like a minor pause you barely notice.