YouTube recently announced the launch of a brand-new advertising format - Peak Points. This feature, with the help of Google's own Gemini AI (formerly known as Bard), inserts advertisements when you are most focused, most touched, and most emotionally charged! To achieve a higher conversion rate.
This move is known in the advertising industry as emotion-based targeting. The underlying logic is that when people are in high spirits, they are more likely to remember the content of advertisements and make purchases.
This article will break down this new feature to see how it works, what it means for creators and advertisers, and how you, as an audience member, can respond.
What are Peak Points?
In layman's terms, it is a system that "uses AI to identify emotional climaxes and insert advertisements when the audience is most immersed in the show."
Official explanation:
YouTube recently announced the launch of a brand-new advertising format - Peak Points. This feature, with the help of Google's own Gemini AI (formerly known as Bard), inserts advertisements when you are most focused, most touched, and most emotionally charged! To achieve a higher conversion rate.
This move is known in the advertising industry as emotion-based targeting. The underlying logic is that when people are in high spirits, they are more likely to remember the content of advertisements and make purchases.
This article will break down this new feature to see how it works, what it means for creators and advertisers, and how you, as an audience member, can respond.
What are Peak Points?
In layman's terms, it is a system that "uses AI to identify emotional climaxes and insert advertisements when the audience is most immersed in the show."
Official explanation:
Gemini AI analyzes the moments in a video that have the greatest emotional impact or when viewers are most focused, triggering ad insertions immediately after these "peak points."
For example:
The moment of proposal in the couple's video – here comes the commercial.
The moment you finish the game live - the advertisement comes on.
When the protagonist of a popular drama confesses his love - the commercial comes again!
This may sound like "interrupting interest", but advertisers like this "high engagement + high memory point" strategy, which is called "Emotion-based Targeting" in the advertising industry.
What are the benefits for advertisers?
High conversion : When the audience is in high spirits, they are more likely to remember the advertising information.
Increased click-through rate : When viewers relax after the climax, they may be more willing to view the ad.
Precise delivery : AI reduces the trial and error costs of traditional "point-in-time delivery".
In a word: instead of blindly "spending the budget", we can now "spend it where it matters most".
Will the audience experience be worse?
It depends on what type of audience you are:
If you are an emotion-oriented audience : you are crying while watching the ending, and then a commercial comes on, your emotions are interrupted and your experience drops sharply.
If you are a rational viewer : It doesn't matter if the video pauses for a break at the climax, you may feel that the rhythm is reasonable.
But in general, most people are somewhat averse to being "precisely interrupted".
Tip: Use YouTube Premium to skip all ads, or use the segmented download tool to get rid of streaming interruptions.
What are the implications for content creators?
This is the key point!
Positive impact : If your video has a clear structure and emotional rhythm, AI can more easily identify the "climax point" and it is more likely to be selected as an ad spot, which means you will have more advertising revenue.
Negative impact : Your narrative rhythm may be disrupted by "misjudged insertions", affecting the audience's completion rate.
How to adapt?
Consciously design emotional peaks in the video script to make AI recognition more accurate.
Arrange easy transition segments after the audience's strongest emotions to avoid advertisements interrupting key content.
Keep the rhythm consistent and don't create a "fake climax" just to insert more advertisements.
Teach you how to use AI logic in reverse: create a video structure that "AI likes"
Since YouTube's advertising system uses Gemini AI to identify audience emotional high points, we can reverse-design the content structure to create a "golden content rhythm" that is easier for AI to identify and more willing for advertisers to place.
Step 1: Quickly establish the context at the beginning of the video
Goal : Let the audience understand the story background or conflict within 10 seconds, and guide AI to identify the content theme.
Examples : "Today I'm going to reveal my most embarrassing confession..." or "Guess how much it cost me to get my iPhone fixed?"
Step 2: Create a clear emotional turning point
Goal : Create an emotional climax that engages the audience (Gemini AI's key focus area).
Keywords : surprise, touching, reversal, suspense resolution, dream realization.
Example : "When I finally got up the courage to speak, he actually... cried."
Step 3: Cool down naturally after climax, leaving space for ads
Goal : After the climax identified by AI, set a gentle transition to avoid the ad being inserted too abruptly.
Tips : Soften the rhythm by using screen switching, relaxing narration or pauses.
Example : "In fact, we talked for a long time afterwards, and I found out that there was a reason behind it..."
Step 4: Add some emotion at the end to enhance the memory point
Goal : Improve the overall memorability and emotional level of the content , and also make it easier for AI to identify multiple peak points.
Example : "So, I want to say to my past self: Don't be afraid to show love, because you deserve to be liked."
Step 5: Guide user interaction and increase engagement signals
Goal : To end with a like, comment, or link click, which the system will see as a signal of high-quality content and increase ad revenue potential.
Example : "Have you had similar experiences? Tell me in the comments!" or "If you like this kind of sincere sharing, remember to give it a thumbs up~"
YouTube has also launched "Shoppable Feed"
In addition to Peak Points, there is another more popular advertising upgrade - Shoppable Product Feed :
Display product listings directly in ads
Swipe to browse and purchase while watching videos
Support jump to official website or YouTube store
This is especially beneficial for bloggers and e-commerce advertisers. You can make a review video or a collection of outfits, and the advertisement will automatically show the "same style" products, truly realizing that content is business.
Conclusion
YouTube is entering a new stage of AI-based precision advertising. Peak Points ads and shoppable feeds will jointly open up an upgraded mode of "content is e-commerce". As a content creator or brand marketer, your content structure and emotional rhythm design capabilities will become new competitive advantages.
Would you like to watch an advertisement at the most exciting moment of the video? Do you think this AI advertising approach is precise or disturbing?
