YouTube bans masthead ads for politics, alcohol and bets

The world's biggest video-sharing platform will no longer allow political or election ads in its coveted masthead spot at the top of the site's homepage nor ads for alcohol, gambling and prescription drugs.

In an email to advertisers, YouTube said the change built on its move last year to retire all full-day masthead ads. It said it has retired these full-day reservations, like the one then US President Donald Trump reserved to dominate its homepage on Election Day 2020, and replaced them with more targeted formats.

"We regularly review our advertising requirements to ensure they balance the needs of both advertisers and users," a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "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."


Reuters has seen a copy of th emailed statement. YouTube is owned by Google, which in turn comes under the umbrella entity of Alphabet Inc.

Google paused political ads altogether around the 2020 US elections and again ahead of President Joe Biden's inauguration in January this year, citing its policy over sensitive events.