YouTube filled even the pauses with ads

YouTube has officially confirmed the rollout of pause screen advertising for all advertisers, ending a trial period that began in 2023. This happened 6 years after the first warnings about this possibility and a year and a half after Google discovered the high profitability of this format.

Image source: EyestetixStudio / Pixabay

The process of introducing paused advertising was gradual and methodical. Back in 2018, the first warnings emerged about the potential use of YouTube’s pause screen for advertising. Already in April 2023, Google officially announced plans to introduce this feature on YouTube and initiated a pilot project, providing access to a limited number of advertisers.

A year later, Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, confirmed that the new format had proven extremely profitable for the company and now those plans are fully realized. Oluwa Falodun, communications manager at YouTube, said: “Given the strong positive response from advertisers and viewers alike, we have rolled out paused advertising widely to all advertisers.”

Image Source: Pale_Baker3255 / Reddit

YouTube users quickly responded to the changes. Last week, multiple reports surfaced on Reddit about a noticeable increase in the frequency of ads on YouTube’s pause screen. Video hosting positions advertising during a pause as “less intrusive.” However, the company did not indicate a possible reduction in the frequency of standard advertising. It’s important to note that YouTube has already introduced unskippable ads in 2023, and has also experimented with longer but less frequent ad inserts.

YouTube is not a pioneer in using the pause screen for advertising. Hulu and AT&T have been using this practice for a long time. Streaming service Sling TV introduced paused advertising back in July of this year, but gave users the ability to turn it off in the settings. YouTube, in turn, did not report the availability of such a choice, which may cause additional dissatisfaction among users.