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.
I just saw the image and it makes the actual paused video smaller (thus making it harder to read small text and see details in the paused frame). Also, ads are immersion breaking.
Yeah. Could be a problem.
Well, so is pausing a video
Pausing a video and seeing the frame you paused at is way less immersion breaking and context switchy then seeing an ad for a random thing that has no relation to the video.