Meet YouTube’s new side-by-side ads for livestreams. Instead of hijacking your screen with a full-screen ad takeover, YouTube now shrinks your video to one side and plays the ad alongside it.

YouTube’s calling this “less disruptive,” which is technically true. You can still see the livestream happening in a tiny window… but you can’t hear it, since the ad takes over the audio. This move shows how much YouTube is all-in on livestreaming right now, and they need to make it profitable for everyone involved.

It’s all part of YouTube’s plan to compete with TikTok Live, Instagram Live, and Twitch. Live content creates that magic “in the moment” feeling with creators, leading to more engagement, more time spent on the platform, and more opportunities to spend money.

If you’re a YouTuber, this is actually good news. More ad formats means more ways to earn. Side-by-side ads create another revenue stream without completely destroying the viewing experience. Plus, anything that keeps viewers from immediately clicking away during ad breaks is a win for your watch time metrics.

The bottom line: YouTube’s side-by-side ads are a compromise nobody asked for but everyone can probably live with. They’re less intrusive than full takeovers, but still effective enough to keep advertisers happy. Classic YouTube: finding the exact middle ground between user experience and profit maximization.

You can read more here.