In this post, we'll take a look at all of the YouTube Ad types you can expect to see in 2025.

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Video ads are everywhere. You can’t read a news article without closing, stopping, skipping (...or…<gasp>...viewing) an video ad. As video has become a more prevalent form of advertising, YouTube has found more placements for its videos - even placements outside of YouTube. Yes, that’s right. Just because you’ve created a video and made a video campaign within Google ads, that doesn’t mean your ad will only be showing on YouTube.com. Read on to find out where your ad could be placed.

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The big factor in ad placement will depend on what type of video ad you are running. There are currently seven different types of video ad formats that you can choose from in the Google Ads interface. These ad types are Skippable In-Stream, Non-Skippable In-Stream, In-Feed Video Ads, Bumper Ads, Masthead Ads, as well as YouTube Shorts Ads.

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Skippable In-Stream YouTube Ads

Skippable In-Stream Ads are the often used ads that give the user a chance to skip after 5 seconds. These ads can appear on YouTube watch pages and across websites & apps running on Google video partners. If you’re like me - upon first read - you’re wondering what Google Video Partners is. According to this support article: “Google video partners are high-quality publisher websites and mobile apps where you can show your video ads to viewers beyond YouTube. Video partner publishers are carefully vetted and must meet Google's inventory quality standards.” So - consider it search partners for video - except they aren’t other video sites, but rather - other websites on the Google Display Network that have placements for video.  

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Google Video Partners is a feature that is automatically opted in upon setup. For most YouTube campaign types, this isn’t a feature you can opt out of at this time.  You may notice Google has grayed out the button to uncheck it.

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Non-skippable In-Stream YouTube Ads

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Non-skippable in-stream ads and Bumper Ads serve similarly (save for the video length, which is 6 secs for Bumpers and 30 seconds or shorter for Non-skippable in-stream) and appear on YouTube videos and across websites and apps running on Google video partners as well. These are charged on a Target CPM basis, so charges are per impression, not interaction or view.

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In-Feed YouTube Ads

In-Feed Video Ads are a bit of a different beast. That’s because they do not play before, or during a video, but rather show up as a thumbnail ad within YouTube. They can appear on YouTube search results, alongside related YouTube videos & on the YouTube mobile homepage. They also appear differently, depending on which placement they serve on. For example (taken from this support article): 

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Within YouTube Search results, they could look like this:

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On the YouTube watch page, they could look like this:

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They can also appear as a promoted video on the mobile search & watch pages.

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Masthead Ads are a prominent [read: expensive] format that appears at the top of the YouTube Home Feed on desktop. They can also appear at the top of the YouTube app or m.youtube.com home feed on mobile or at the top of the YouTube app for TVs on TV Screens. 

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YouTube Shorts Ads

Lastly, we have the newest addition to the lineup, YouTube Shorts and the vertical video format it appears in.  This format is used when you have vertical videos available that may have worked well within a social media context.  These ads serve on tablets, mobile apps and connected devices.  

YouTube shorts ads can be triggered anytime you upload a vertical video less than 1 minute and are targeting mobile devices. However, they are best served through using the “awareness and consideration” goal with the “efficient reach” campaign subtype.  They also can serve within a Demand Gen campaign with other formats. 

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These are charged by impression, view or engagement as interactions with this ad format occur differently than others.  A user can skip an ad by swiping up or down and can also be reshown to a user if they scroll back.  These ads are also shown with a CTA button to direct users to a specified landing page.

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So, there you have it. Those are the current, available video ad formats we have available at this exact moment in time in the year of 2025. I hope this was helpful as you navigate YouTube Ads and how to be the most effective across this ad network.  

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