YouTube to pause ads during high-engagement livestreams

YouTube announced this week that it will hold back ads during livestreams if chat engagement is at its peak. The Google-owned platform stated that when a chat experiences high energy, it wants to “protect that collective vibe.” Under this new system, when YouTube’s system recognizes that engagement is high, the platform will automatically hold back ads for everyone. The company says the change is intended to help creators maintain momentum for viewers without interruptions from ads.

On the other hand, viewers who show support using paid features will receive a personal ad-free window immediately after their purchase. These features include Super Chat, which allows viewers to pay to highlight their messages in a livestream, and Super Stickers, which are paid images that users purchase to make their messages stand out in chats. Viewers who make gift purchases will also receive this ad-free window.

The platform is also expanding its viewer gifting features. More creators are now eligible to receive gifts from viewers, as the platform has expanded gift eligibility to Canada, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.

Additionally, YouTube noted that over 30% of live watch time in the U.S. came from connected TVs in 2025. The company highlighted this statistic as it seeks to help creators customize their streams for different screen formats, including connected TVs, which are smart TVs or streaming devices connected to the internet. As part of these format updates, creators can now go live in both vertical and horizontal formats at the same time, connecting all viewers in a single shared chat. This allows users to interact across traditional landscape-oriented horizontal livestreams and portrait-oriented vertical livestreams.

These livestream updates arrive alongside price increases for the platform’s paid subscription service, YouTube Premium, in the U.S. Prior to these changes, paying for a Premium subscription was the only way for viewers to avoid seeing ads on the platform. The monthly subscription rates are increasing as follows:

• The YouTube Premium individual plan is increasing from $13.99 to $15.99 per month.
• The YouTube Premium family plan is increasing from $22.99 to $26.99 per month.

Why it matters

YouTube is balancing creator monetization and user experience by introducing ad-free windows during high-engagement moments, even as it pushes through price increases for its core subscription service. This strategy highlights how the platform is leveraging interactive fan support to maintain viewer momentum while extracting more revenue from its broader subscriber base.