- Netflix has announced that the ads in half roll generated by AI will arrive in 2026
- YouTube this week also revealed its new Gemini advertising technology
- Both have also tested ‘pause ads’ that appear when pauses a video
It seemed that the Golden Age of the transmission was far behind us, but Netflix and YouTube have confirmed it with new types of ads that will seriously test their patience in the near future.
Netflix was the first to talk brilliantly about its advertising technology this week: during its initial showcase, the transmission giant said it will launch interactive and interactive intermediate ads generated by AI, along with pause ads, in 2026.
What means ‘generated by I’? Unfortunately, it’s as bad as you were afraid. Netflix explained during the advantage that these new types of ads will use “the generative one to instantly marry the advertisements of advertisers with the worlds of our shows.”
In other words, half -roll ads will soon mix harmoniously with the program you are seeing, bathing your eyes with subtle messages.
Netflix is very confident that their advertising level subscribers will support these new commercials because, according to Amy Reinhard (their advertising president), “members pay as much attention to the advertisements of the middle of role as to the shows and the films themselves.” Perhaps the subscribers throw remote on their TV also count for ‘Commitment’.
Unfortunately, the advertisement dial makes sense for the final result of Netflix: its level with ads recently reached 94 million monthly users, which is more than double the number of the same time last year. And Netflix is far from being the only transmission service that ventures with the dark arts of the new AI advertisements.
The decisive moment
During his Brandcast event this week (through 9to5google), YouTube also revealed an advertisement technique with a different turn, one that uses Gemini to solve how to place ads in the most important parts of the video you are watching.
YouTube calls this ‘maximum points’, because I use AI to solve the most significant moments or “peak” to get away from an important moment and immerse your head in an advertising message.
In the example that YouTube shared, the announcement was served just after the “directed moment” (a marriage proposal) instead of during it, but still seems like a quite cynical way to hit him with advertising when his emotional guard is down.
YouTube did not say exactly when this new ‘characteristic’ will be implemented. But it seems likely to arrive before the interactive and interactive ads of Netflix. Speaking of pause ads, that is another trick that YouTube has already tried in its attempt to break its resolution and push it to YouTube Premium (or, in many cases, the origin of Ublock).
Analysis: Transmission giants are removed masks
There was an age in which Netflix was the upstart without advertisements that we all go into cable mass and its commercial endless ones, but those days have spent a long time ago.
In fact, if the insidious ad seap is exhausting, there were some chilling comments by Amy Reinhard (Netflix advertising president) in Upfront. “If you eliminate something today, I hope this is: the basis of our advertisement business is in place,” he said during the advance. “And in the future, the rhythm of progress will be even faster.”
Pass me some smart glasses with advertisement blockers, because this does not sound like a fun trip. I have no problem with the ads, it would be hypocritical to say otherwise, write for a website that is compatible in part for them, but making it a central part of a paid service seems a bit greedy, and I am worried about the combination of ads of AI with entertainment.
As the collaborator of Techradar Carrie Marshall also argued recently, the function of ‘Show The Show’ of Prime Video, which allows her to buy instantaneous products presented in her programs, represents a worrying trend that will only get worse as we go to 2026. Prime Video is, as Netflix, a lot of advertising company on a costume.
With AI unlocking new opportunities, the temptation to saturate programs with marketing opportunities will be stronger than ever, and we can feel more and more Truman Burbank in The Truman Show, Wondering why we have the sudden need to go and buy a friend of a chef. I just hope that escaping from these next -generation ads does not become exclusively the reserve of the rich that can afford to disburse for 14 monthly subscriptions without different ads.
