YouTube will use AI to force users to watch even more ads

Summary

Google has introduced a new advertising feature for YouTube called Peak Points, which places ads right after meaningful moments.
Peak Points leverages Gemini, Google’s AI technology, which is already prominent on smartphones and computers.
This feature aims to increase ad engagement for brands. However, viewers could be frustrated by getting ads right after crucial moments.

Google Gemini
is one of the most advanced AI technologies in the world and one of the biggest rivals of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Gemini is now prominent on many devices, such as smartphones and computers, and will soon be available on

TVs, cars, and smartwatches
. Now, Google is leveraging the power of Gemini even more on YouTube.

Recently, Google held its Brandcast event in New York City, bringing together creators and brands to celebrate the

20th anniversary of YouTube
and to provide a snapshot of the future. At the event, Google announced what it calls “Peak Points,” a new Gemini feature that aims to place ads after the most engaging part of a video.

YouTube

notable shows: Kitchen Nightmares, Merlin
notable movies: Clueless, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, How to Train Your Dragon, Mean Girls, Star Trek
Premium Subscription: Yes, $13.99 per month
Originals: No
Live TV: No

YouTube will stream an NFL game for free this fall

On Friday, September 5, you’ll be able to watch a live NFL opening week game for free, exclusively through YouTube.

How does Peak Points work?

Gemini will find engaging moments, and place ads after them

YouTube

For example, say you’re watching a video of a proposal, and right after the couple agrees to get engaged (the most engaging part of the video, no pun intended), YouTube places an ad immediately afterward. This is what Peak Points aims to do.

Peak Points uses Gemini to analyze a video, identifying the most “meaningful” moments in it and placing an ad right after them. The goal behind this is to generate better traffic and click rates on ads and to demonstrate to brands that their ads can be placed at the moment when audiences are most engaged with a video. TechCrunch notes that this is an advertising strategy called “emotion-based targeting,” which seeks to place ads in moments where viewers will better remember them because of a meaningful moment in what they were watching.

To advertisers, this all probably sounds great, but to viewers, it might sound frustrating. YouTube is already full of ads, and the thought of them becoming even smarter thanks to Gemini’s Peak Points and interrupting the viewing experience even more doesn’t sound appealing at all. There are still a few unknowns about Peak Points, such as how long the ads will be, whether they will be skippable, and when this is getting rolled out exactly.

Of course, all this is likely just a further ploy to get viewers to subscribe to

YouTube Premium
, which offers an ad-free experience. Google recently introduced

YouTube Premium Lite
, a lower-cost version of Premium that offers a mostly ad-free experience but still has ads on music videos and YouTube Music.