Gambling, alcohol, prescription drug, and political ads have all been banned from YouTube’s prominent masthead ad unit, the company has announced.
YouTube first started policing its masthead unit (the banner at the top of the homepage) during last year’s Presidential election, as a way to stop full-day takeovers on the site. It came after Donald Trump bought the ad space on Election Day.
At the time, YouTube said it was retiring the full-day format and would instead be offering advertisers more targeted formats.
Now, YouTube will be further controlling the masthead unit and banning ads related to gambling, alcohol, prescription drugs and election/political ads.
“We regularly review our advertising requirements to ensure they balance the needs of both advertisers and users,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters.
“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.”
Google temporarily paused more than 5 million ads during last year’s presidential election, as it enforced its sensitive events policy.
