Google confirms side-by-side ads are here for YouTube mobile

Yesterday, we reported on YouTube seemingly testing a new concurrent ad format that plays ads alongside a livestream, without disrupting the video (but disrupting the audio). Google has now confirmed to us that side-by-side ads are new on mobile, but have been around since last year on desktop and TVs.

Google pointed us to the launch of side-by-side ads for livestreams on YouTube:

YouTube introduced side-by-side ads for automated live mid-rolls to reduce disruption to viewers during a livestream. During these ad breaks, the ad runs alongside the livestream within the video player.

However, in its video, Google notes that the stream’s audio is muted during the ad. This is intentional behavior. Consequently, viewers do lose out on the audio content from the livestream during the ad break, and depending on what they are watching and how long the ad was, that missed content could have been crucial.

Google did note that mobile is now supported for side-by-side ads on livestream, which is what Reddit users spotted. So side-by-side ads and muted stream audio are not bugs, but features.

For many users, mobile is the primary way they consume videos, including livestreams. By keeping the video feed visible on mobile, YouTube is trying to bridge the gap between keeping the lights on with ad revenue and not making viewers feel like they’ve completely lost the thread of the broadcast, but there’s definitely room for improvement here.