Google says pause ads on YouTube are getting a very positive reaction from advertisers. The company could roll them out widely soon.
YouTube first spoke about pause ads last year when it started trialing them in select regions. At the time, the company said that when you pause a video, it will shrink, and an ad will appear next to it.
“In Q1, we saw strong traction from the introduction of a pause ads pilot on connected TVs, a new non-interruptive ad format that appears when users pause their organic content,” Schindler noted. He went on to share that YouTube’s pause ads are “driving strong brand lift results” and “are commanding premium pricing from advertisers.”
Schindler didn’t share any timelines for when pause ads will start appearing on YouTube, but we know they’ll first roll out on smart TVs. The nature of these ads, including their duration, skippability, and more is still unclear. We also don’t know if Google plans to introduce these ads on YouTube’s mobile apps.
Out of all the advertising they could do, at least this is somewhat unobtrusive. If they had this instead of preroll ads, I'd actually be okay with it.
I pause videos for 1 reason and 1 reason only and that's to speak to people IRL or online, because I can't concentrate on a conversation when there's background noise.
This is just another entry for the list of reason it's 1001% valid to use adblockers.