Anthony Waye

YouTube has introduced a new side-by-side ad format for livestreams. The main video player shrinks to make room for ads displayed alongside it on both desktop and mobile. While the ad plays, the livestream audio is muted, so viewers hear the commercial instead of the stream. Many users report it disrupts immersion during gaming, sports, and chat-heavy broadcasts. Viewers are also noticing more sponsored content appearing in the subscriptions feed. This is being widely viewed as a push toward YouTube Premium, which recently rose to $15.99 per month for individual subscribers.