by Key Points
- YouTube is testing pause screen ads in the YouTube app for smart TVs.
- Ads appear next to the paused video, with an option to close the ad or get more information about the ad.
- So far, only Dunkin’ Donuts ads have appeared and been reported.
The ad experience on YouTube is not a pleasant one. Unless you shell out for a Premium YouTube subscription or use an ad blocker (which YouTube blocks), you’re often greeted with unskippable ads — in many cases, two. Skip ahead a few seconds? BOOM, ad. Refresh the webpage because it feels sluggish? Ad. Video is longer than 10 minutes? You guessed it, multiple ads.
Just when we thought the ad glut on the platform couldn’t get any worse, Google threw Shopify into the fray with a new YouTube Shopping Partner Program.
It appears the platform is now testing pause ad segments, at least on YouTube for Smart TVs.
In a report highlighted by 9to5Google, YouTube’s pause screen ads, which the company first announced in May, have been rolled out to some users. The new ad format, which appears to be limited to the YouTube TV app, has users on Reddit and X (Twitter) asking if YouTube didn’t “have enough ads already???”
The new format shows ads in a column placed to the right of the paused video, with an option to close the ad or find more information about it. The ads also have a prominent “Sponsored” tag above them.
More advertisers to follow
At this time, only Dunkin’ Donuts ads have appeared and been reported, though it’s likely other brands will join the mix soon. I tried to replay the ad on my TV but that didn’t work, suggesting that pause ads may still be rolling out, or they may be part of a very limited test.
The tech giant already makes money from ads on YouTube, and pause screen ads will only attract more advertisers to the platform. According to Google’s Q2 2024 earnings report, of the $64.6 billion in ad revenue, $8.6 billion (13.31 percent) was generated by YouTube, putting the streaming platform at roughly $34.4 billion in ad revenue per year.
In addition to ads on pause screens, the streaming platform is also experimenting with ads that cannot be blocked.
