YouTube in an Advent Calendar: Ads Inside Embeds, “Made for Kids” and What the nocookie Player Changes

Information about what the platforms’ own pages say, not legal advice.

Most of the doors in a digital advent calendar hold a text or a photo. The ones that hold a video are links to YouTube, and a video link brings the platform’s rules with it: who can watch, what is tracked, which ads play, and what changes when the video is meant for children. This page sets out each rule from Google’s and Vimeo’s own pages, with the page named, and then the steps to put a video behind a door. For what to choose as a video or a song, see 24 videos and songs worth a door.

The maker here is free, with 24 doors and no account for the person who opens it; a door takes a short text and one of an image, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link.

Public, Unlisted, Private: who can watch

YouTube gives each video one of three visibilities, and Google’s page describes them in these words:

Public, unlisted and private videos can all be reviewed by YouTube for ad suitability, copyright and other abuse prevention.

For a calendar the choice is usually Unlisted: the person you send the link to can watch without a Google account, and the video stays out of search. Private cannot be the choice, because a private video cannot be shared by link and needs a chosen viewer.

Good to know Unlisted is not private. Google’s wording is that an unlisted video can be seen and shared by anyone with the link, and that link sharing has no restriction on resharing. Anyone who gets the link, from you or from the person you sent it to, can watch the video. Put nothing behind an unlisted door that must stay between two people, and send the calendar link only to the person it is for.

Privacy-enhanced mode and the nocookie player

A YouTube embed can run in privacy-enhanced mode. Google’s embed page says to turn it on by changing the domain in the embed URL from www.youtube.com to www.youtube-nocookie.com. In that mode, views of the embedded video are not used to influence the viewer’s browsing experience on YouTube, and the ads shown on the embed are non-personalised: “those ads will likewise be non-personalised”.

Three limits are on the same page. The mode currently works on websites, and apps should use a WebView instead. If the viewer leaves the embed for another site or app, “that website or app may track the viewer’s behaviour as per that website’s or app’s policies and terms”. And the mode does not remove ads; it changes which ads can be shown. Age-restricted videos generally cannot be watched on third-party sites.

Child-directed sites must self-designate, even with nocookie

The UK version of the same page carries a sentence aimed at the owner of the website or app doing the embedding: “If your website or app is child-directed, you must self-designate your site or app”, and the page adds that this applies “even if you embed YouTube videos with the privacy-enhanced mode player”. The duty sits with the site that embeds the player, which is the calendar maker and not the person who fills the doors. The practical point for a parent or teacher is smaller: switching to the nocookie domain does not answer the child-directed question, and the page treats self-designation as a separate step.

The page also explains how a video’s owner stops others from embedding it: in YouTube Studio, the owner clears “Allow embedding” for the video. If a video you did not make refuses to play in a door, that setting is one thing to check.

"Made for kids": what it switches off

Google’s page says “As a YouTube creator, you are required to set future and existing videos as made for kids or not”. For a made-for-kids video the page lists features that are unavailable: autoplay on home, cards or end screens, video watermarks, channel memberships, comments, the donate button, likes and dislikes on YouTube Music, live chat or live chat donations, merchandise and ticketing, the notification bell, personalized advertising, playback in the Miniplayer, Super Chat or Super Stickers, and save to playlist and save to watch later. On ads and data it says: “Most importantly, we don’t serve personalized ads on kids content”, and “We limit data collection and use on made for kids content to comply with the law”.

The page does not say how these settings apply to a video inside an embedded player, and it does not say that a made-for-kids video plays without ads: it says personalized ads are not served. A calendar for a child should not describe a video door as ad-free on the strength of this page.

Ads on embedded videos

This is the rule that decides what a calendar can promise. Google’s page on ads says:

The platform’s own words “Embedded videos may show skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads.” The embeds “will honor the same ad enablement settings as videos on youtube.com.” “Only YouTube and the video owner will earn revenue from ads on embedded videos.” And: “there’s no way to directly turn off ads on embedded videos only.”

The page’s own alternative for an owner who does not want ads is to switch embedding off altogether. It does not mention made-for-kids content. Together with the privacy-enhanced-mode page, it sets the limit of any honest promise: a site that embeds through the nocookie domain gets non-personalised ads, and no calendar can promise that the video itself is free of ads, because the ads belong to YouTube and the video’s owner. If the person opening the calendar is a child, say in your message that a video may start with an ad.

What YouTube asks of any site that embeds its player

YouTube’s required minimum functionality page sets rules for the site that embeds the player; they bind the maker, and a person filling doors cannot change them. In Google’s words and figures:

• Size: “Embedded players must have a viewport that is at least 200px by 200px.”
• Overlays: a site “must not display overlays, frames, or other visual elements in front of any part of a YouTube embedded player”.
• Autoplay: no automatic playback “until the player is visible and more than half of the player is visible”.
• Thumbnails: “Any YouTube thumbnail that initiates a playback must be at least 120 pixels wide and 70 pixels tall.”
• Referrer: a site must avoid “setting the Referrer-Policy in a way that suppresses the Referer value” and must not use the noreferrer feature.

The embed page adds the effect on the viewer: embedders must provide an HTTP referrer, and without one viewers “will encounter blocked playback and an error screen (‘error 153’)”, though they can still click “Watch on YouTube”. A door animation that sat over the player would conflict with the overlay line.

Vimeo's free plan

Vimeo is the other platform a door can link to. Its privacy page says the Free plan includes Public and Private settings only; Unlisted, password protection, “Hide from Vimeo” and domain-level embed restrictions need a paid plan (Starter, Standard or Advanced). Private videos are visible to the owner and people granted access, and “cannot be embedded anywhere”. A video meant to be embedded in a calendar door on Vimeo’s free plan therefore has to be Public. The Free plan lists 1 GB of storage and 1 seat.

Steps: to put a video behind a door

1. Choose where the video lives. A YouTube video you own is the easiest; a Vimeo video on the free plan must be Public to be embedded.
2. Set a YouTube video to Unlisted. The person you send the calendar to then needs no Google account, and the video stays out of search unless someone adds it to a public playlist.
3. Check embedding and age settings. The video’s owner can clear “Allow embedding”, and age-restricted videos generally cannot be watched on third-party sites.
4. Settle “made for kids” if the video is yours. YouTube requires every creator to set it. A video made for kids loses comments and personalized ads, among the features on Google’s list.
5. Paste the video’s link into the door. A door takes the link; videos in the maker are links to YouTube and not uploads.
6. Open the calendar link on a phone and play the video. An ad may run first, and you should know it before the person does.
7. Send the calendar to one person. Anyone with the link can open the calendar, and anyone with an unlisted link can watch the video.

In the tool A door holds text and one of an image, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link, and videos are links, not uploads. The calendar goes out as one link by WhatsApp or email. Ads inside a YouTube video belong to YouTube and the video’s owner and cannot be switched off by the maker.

Put it in a calendar

Pick the template that matches the person: a child, grandparents or a class. Replace the placeholder videos with your own Unlisted links, then Create your calendar and send the link.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a YouTube video in an advent calendar show ads?

It can. Google’s page says embedded videos may show skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads, that they follow the same ad settings as youtube.com, and that there is no way to turn off ads on embedded videos only.

Is an unlisted YouTube video private?

No. Unlisted videos “can be seen and shared by anyone with the link”, viewers need no Google account, and link sharing has no restriction on resharing.

What does youtube-nocookie.com change?

It switches the embed to privacy-enhanced mode: views are not used to influence the viewer’s browsing experience on YouTube, and the ads are non-personalised. It does not remove ads, and a child-directed site must still self-designate.

What does "made for kids" turn off?

Google lists comments, personalized advertising, cards and end screens, the notification bell, the donate button and others; its page does not mention embedded players.

Can I embed a private Vimeo video in an advent calendar?

No. Vimeo’s page says private videos cannot be embedded anywhere, and the Free plan has only Public and Private settings.

Does a viewer need a Google account to watch an unlisted video?

No: those you share an unlisted video with do not need a Google account to see it.

Why does an embedded video sometimes show an error?

Google’s embed page says that an embedder that sends no HTTP referrer leaves viewers with blocked playback and an error screen, error 153, though they can click “Watch on YouTube”. Age restrictions and a cleared “Allow embedding” setting are other limits.

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