YouTube has introduced new capabilities for Shorts ads, adding comments, creator website links, and mobile web placements. The changes, detailed in a recent Ads & Commerce blog post outlining the latest updates, apply to Shorts ad inventory across supported YouTube surfaces.
Key Details on YouTube Shorts Ads Changes
Google is aligning the Shorts ad experience more closely with organic Shorts videos by adding interactive features and expanding where Shorts ads can appear.
- Eligible Shorts ads can now display a comments section similar to organic Shorts, allowing viewers to read and post comments beneath these ads.
- To enable comments on Shorts ads, the advertiser's YouTube channel must be linked to a Google Ads or Display & Video 360 account.
- Comment moderation for Shorts ads uses the same tools available in YouTube Studio, so advertisers can manage comments with existing channel settings.
- Shorts creators producing branded content can include tappable links to a brand's website, sending viewers directly to the advertiser's site.
- Shorts ads now run on mobile web browsers, not only in the YouTube mobile app, adding another viewing surface for Shorts ad campaigns.
- YouTube states that Shorts ad specifications remain aligned with existing Shorts video requirements, including a recommendation for vertical video format.
- Google cited Kantar research on Creator Ads in Shorts, reporting an 8.8% lift in purchase intent and 2.9x higher consumer spending intent versus competitors.
Background Context
YouTube introduced Shorts in 2020 as a vertical, short-form video format within the main YouTube platform. Since launch, YouTube has added monetization tools and advertising products around Shorts content.
Before this update, Shorts ads already appeared across the YouTube mobile app, desktop, and connected TV. The new mobile web placement adds browser-based viewing on phones to the existing surfaces.
Google's Ads & Commerce team presented the latest changes as part of broader work on short-form video advertising, highlighting creator-led ad formats and independent research partnerships to support measurement.
Source Citations
The information in this article is drawn from Google's official materials on YouTube Shorts advertising. Key sources are listed below.
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