YouTube now allows all advertisers to pause videos to show ads

A year and a half after Googleannounced that it would start showing ads when you pause a video on YouTube, it has now revealed that these 'pause screen ads' will finally be rolled out to all advertisers.

YouTube confirms your pause screen is now fair game for ads - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/18/24248391/youtube-pause-ads-widely-rolling-out

In 2023, YouTube began testing pause screen ads for a limited number of advertisers. Pause screen ads are literally what appear when you pause a video, and it has been confirmed that 'when you pause a video playing in full screen on your smartphone, an ad appears on the side of the video.'

Also, it seems that ads will be displayed even if you watch videos with your smartphone in portrait orientation.

According to Google, the pause ads 'received a tremendous response from viewers and advertisers,' so Google is now making them available to all advertisers.

'Pause ads have been a big hit with advertisers and have been a big profit for Google,' said Philip Schindler, Google's chief business officer.

Google says that pause ads are designed to 'not interrupt the viewing experience too much,' but it doesn't explain why it's increasing the number of pause ads and reducing regular ads. In addition, it's also introducing non-skippable ads at the same time as introducing pause ads.

YouTube finally launches unskippable 30-second ads - GIGAZINE