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Youtube Will No More Show The Advertisements Promoting Alcohol, Drugs and Political Campaigns

Youtube one of the world’s most-watched video platforms has changed its policy about the advertisements of certain categories and according to that now this streaming

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Youtube one of the world’s most-watched video platforms has changed its policy about the advertisements of certain categories and according to that now this streaming platform will no more show advertisements pertaining to Alcohol, Drugs, and Political campaigns. 

According to the reports, the video streaming platform said Monday that it will ban ads related to gambling, alcohol, and prescription drugs, as well as political and election ads, from its masthead — the banner displayed at the top of its website and apps.

YouTube’s “masthead” ads appear at the top of the YouTube homepage — which is “the most prominent Google advertising placement available to advertisers,” according to the internet company.

Changes to YouTube policies began last year after the contentious election year with an increased spread of misinformation and hate speech. Other prohibited categories for advertisements include exaggerated or inaccurate claims, offensive language, negative events and imagery, and improper content.

“We believe this update will build on changes we made last year to the masthead reservation process and will lead to a better experience for users,” a spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, said

This is the second big change in less than a year to YouTube’s masthead policies, after banning advertisers in November from reserving the spot for a full day. 

In 2020, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign bought 24-hour ad takeovers of YouTube’s masthead some 20 times, including on Election Day (Nov. 3). A full-day placement on YouTube homepage cost about $2 million, the New York Times reported.

The day after the election, YouTube said that it would stop selling full-day masthead takeovers. Instead, that ad inventory is now sold on a per-impression basis.

Here’s some additional detail on what is no longer allowed in ads on YouTube masthead, per Google’s customer service site:

  • Gambling: Assets that depict or reference gambling-related content, including offline gambling, online gambling, online non-casino games, and social casino games.
  • Alcohol: Assets that depict or reference alcohol-related content, including ads promoting the sale of alcohol as well as branding or informational ads focusing on alcoholic beverages
  • Prescription drug terms: Assets that depict or reference prescription drug terms.

Meanwhile, a separate Google Ads support page said the YouTube masthead ad is ideal for companies that want to drive massive reach or awareness, plan their buys in advance and not rely on auction, and show off their brand or service in a prominent space on the platform. Without a doubt, this new guideline will impact the level of reach advertisers can obtain. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Google for additional information.

To limit the exposure of minors to alcohol advertising, RMP signatories commit to placing ads only in media where at least 70% of the audience are adults. This is applied equally across all media channels, including online advertising. The standard alcohol profile under the RMP contains five safeguards limiting minor’s interaction with alcohol brand profiles on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

In an email to advertisers, YouTube said the change built on its move last year to retire all full-day masthead ads. It said it has retired these full-day reservations, like the one then US President Donald Trump reserved to dominate its homepage on Election Day 2020, and replaced them with more targeted formats.

Aside from YouTube, Google also said it either blocked or removed approximately 3.1 billion ads last year for violating its policies and restricted an additional 6.4 billion ads. About 867 million ads were either blocked or removed for abusing the ad network, while 91 million were removed as they violated legal requirements. It also blocked over 99 million COVID-19 related ads from serving throughout the year. This included ads for miracle cures, N95 masks due to supply shortages, and most recently, fake vaccine doses.  

Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels

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