YouTube shows ads when you pause a video on your TV
YouTube is adding a new format for TV ads that appear when a video is paused, and it's starting to roll out to users.
About six years ago, information appeared that ads were coming when you pressed the pause button.
In May 2024, Google announced that the video streaming platform would get some new ad formats across TVs, including one that shows ads across the screen when a video is paused.
Google didn't specify a timeline for when this format would begin rolling out, though it appears to be showing up for some users now.
Across social media platforms, some users have noticed that YouTube ads are now appearing when a video is paused on the TV.
The user interface displays the video in a small box with the ad on the right side of the screen. A “Dismiss” button appears at the bottom along with the information button.
Google has now confirmed that it is expanding the ability for advertisers to target downtime. “Given the strong advertiser and viewer response we saw, we have since rolled out pause ads broadly to all advertisers,” the search giant said.
Technically, YouTube will begin testing pause ads in 2023 with a limited group of advertisers.
Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, revealed in April that these ads have been a huge hit with advertising companies and are profitable for Google.
YouTube claims that pause ads are designed to allow it to provide a less annoying experience, and the platform has experimented with longer, less visible ads in the past, and introduced unskippable ads in 2023.
YouTube is also working on long-form, non-skippable ads and branded QR codes for advertisers.
The video streaming platform is taking on Hulu and AT&T's threat of selling pause ads, and Sling TV also introduced pause ads in July, though at the time they could be turned off from the settings menu.
