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.
When it was hemorrhaging money?
We're in a weird time where all the tech companies are being told at once that they need to start being profitable, and at the same time the EU is cracking down on lots of the shady shit they've been using to control the bleeding to this point.
The internet has spent the last 20 years developing an economic model that's quickly becoming unsustainable, and none of the big web companies seem to have been prepared.
I don't see it that way. YouTube has been slowly monetizing and is quite profitable at this point. Same with Facebook, and many other companies where "you are the product". Advertising is a very profitable business.