Gambling, politics and alcohol banned from YouTube Masthead this week

YouTube will no longer sell ads for categories deemed controversial or addictive

The google owned platform YouTube masthead sent an email to advertisers saying that it will no longer sell ads for certain categories including gambling, politics and alcohol on its homepage.

The masthead slot is the first feature users see when they open YouTube. According to the internet company this is “the most prominent Google advertising placement available to advertisers,” as it is one of the most-visited webpages in the world with the masthead being prime real estate for advertisers.

Google told Reuters ‘We regularly review our advertising requirements to ensure they balance the needs of both advertisers and users,

We believe this update will build on changes we made last year to the masthead reservation process and will lead to a better experience for users.’

As of Monday 14th June viewers are no longer able to see ads referring to offline gambling, online gambling, online non-casino games, and social casino games, those related to elections or politics on the homepage.

It will also ban ads referring or relating to alcohol content such as promotion of its brands or informational ads focusing on the beverage. Controversies arose when Donald Trump purchased the slot for three days when the 2020 election was upcoming. Google paused political ads around that same time and again ahead of President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January this year. Google was already providing a way for users to limit the number of alcohol and gambling related ads they see on YouTube. For years google has been trying to limit ads in certain ‘sensitive’ topics. Mute this ad is a feature that was introduced by Google in 2020 allowing users to choose not to see a specific ads again. With this feature, users will have advertisements in that certain category blocked.

SiGMA Roadshow: Next stop Germany

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