YouTube to ban ads about politics, alcohol and gambling from ‘masthead’

YouTube will ban politicians’ ads from the masthead, the most prominent ad spot on its homepage. Also, advertisements related to gambling and alcohol may no longer appear on that spot.

Parent company Google has adjusted the advertising rules for YouTube. There are now more restrictions on the YouTube masthead. That’s the big horizontal bar at the top of the video website home page. The masthead is one of the most seen ad positions YouTube offers, and therefore the most valuable. Google writes that the restrictions for that position are stricter than for other ad places within the company. Advertisers may therefore be able to post banned ads elsewhere within the Google ecosystem.

Under the new rules, no advertisements for politicians or political campaigns are allowed to appear. Ads on specific political topics are allowed under certain conditions, but YouTube watches that at a time. At the end of last year, after the US presidential election, ad campaigns that reserved the masthead for a day were already banned. Then-President Trump’s campaign held that position all day on Election Day. Since then, advertisers are only allowed to advertise contextually in the masthead.

In addition to political advertisements, gambling and alcohol advertisements are also banned. In the case of gambling, this concerns advertisements for casinos, both online and offline, as well as social gambling games. In alcohol advertisements, advertisements about alcohol use as well as alcohol brands may no longer be shown. In the United States, drug advertisements are also banned.