YouTube announced this week that it will suppress ads during live streams when chat engagement peaks and users show support with Super Chats, Super Stickers, gift purchases, and more. Previously, the only way to avoid seeing ads was to pay for a YouTube Premium subscription.
The Google-owned platform said in a blog post that it wants to “preserve that collective atmosphere” when chats explode with energy. When YouTube’s systems see high engagement, the platform automatically throttles ads for everyone.
The company says the idea behind this change is to allow creators to maintain audience momentum without being interrupted by ads.
Meanwhile, when fans show their support with Super Chat, Super Stickers, or gifts, they are immediately given an ad-free personal window right after their purchase. For context, Super Chat allows viewers to pay to have their messages highlighted, while Super Stickers are images that users can purchase to make their messages stand out within a chat.
YouTube announced these changes along with other updates for Live creators. The company shared that the gifts are currently being distributed in Canada, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, and that more creators around the world are eligible to receive gifts from their viewers.
Additionally, viewers can now send GIFs directly from their mobile devices on creators’ vertical as well as horizontal live streams.
YouTube also announced that creators can now livestream in both vertical and horizontal formats at the same time, and all viewers can connect in one shared chat. The company says that by 2025, more than 30% of live viewing time in the U.S. will be on connected TVs, so it wants to enable creators to customize their streams for all types of screens.
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The move comes days after YouTube raised the price of YouTube Premium subscriptions in the United States. YouTube Premium’s individual plan will increase in price from $13.99 to $15.99 per month, and the family plan will increase in price from $22.99 to $26.99 per month.
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