YouTube TV ads are about to get longer and unskippable...

YouTube is planning on making the YouTube TV experience resemble more closely to traditional television with longer ad format.

They said that with the format, it'll help advertisers reach audiences who are watching in a relaxed, living room setting.

Google AI will be used to optimize between 6 second bumpers, 15 second standard, and 30 second CTV-only non-skippable ad formats.

A lot of people watch YouTube because it's not like traditional television, so it's an interesting move for YouTube to want to emulate that. It could possibly be a way to get traditional media on board with YouTube.

YouTube has been on the fight against ad blockers for a while now, but a big reason why people use ad blockers in the first place is because of how many ads there are and how long they are.

So it's reasonable to think that people won't be happy to know that they're going to get longer non-skippable ads on YouTube TV.

While having more ads can be helpful for monetized creators, it's very disruptive for viewers.

Source: ​https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-ads-are-about-to-get-even-longer-and-theyll-be-unskippable-3332420/​

Engagement is not the same across platforms.

It's not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket, so you should consider spreading your content beyond your main platform. But that doesn't mean you should just copy and paste.

From Buffer, they say that you can publish the same content on several platforms only for them to perform differently. Engagement also mean different things to platforms.

For example, Instagram counts likes, comments, and shares as engagement, while Threads count likes, reposts, replies, and quotes as engagement.

Buffer did an analysis of 52 millions posts across 10 platforms to show the state of social media engagement.

We highly recommend you read the data provided by Buffer and dig into the platform you're interested in so you can know what format to use and how to approach it.

But here some of the highlights on what format is best for what platforms:

• Instagram Reels reach 36% more people than carousels, but carousels drive 12% more engagement.
• Carousels dominate for engagement in Linkedin.
• Despite its text-first reputation, visuals get rewarded on Threads.
• Facebook's format barely matters. Images, videos, and text all land within 1% of each other.
• X's text posts lead in engagement, but your subscription matters more than what format you choose.

Read more here: ​https://buffer.com/resources/state-of-social-media-engagement-2026/​

YouTube expands their likeness detection, previously made only for creators in the YPP, to civic leaders and journalists.

If you're not sure how this tool works, YouTube scans videos for your likeness in AI-gen content, and if a match is found, you can then review the video and request removal if it violates YouTube's privacy guidelines.

The world of gen-AI is getting more and more scarily convincing. And this means a lot of bad actors are using this for their own gain, both in the creator space and now in the political world.

Which is why YouTube is expanding their likeness detection to civic leaders and journalists, so they can protect themselves on YouTube.

Note that in order for YouTube to protect your likeness, you must first give your likeness to them so they have it in their system.

Remember to always keep a keen eye and know when a video's AI or not.

Source: ​https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/expanding-likeness-detection-civic-leaders-journalists/?utm_source=likeness&utm_id=likeness