The tests started already last year and it seems that the business model intended to be introduced is profitable.
Rumors spread many years ago that Google was preparing to regularize advertising blocks on the paused playback screen on its video sharing platform. Tests in this matter have been going on for a year and a half, and the company concerned has not been secretive about it either, but now, according to user feedback, the function has reached a level and is appearing in more and more people.
YoutTube has confirmed that more advertisers can target the pause screen, although if someone stops recording, it’s unlikely they’re doing it to watch an ad instead. Oluwa Falodun, the company’s communications manager, said that this format performed surprisingly well during the test period, so there is no reason to wait any longer for its introduction.
With a limited range of advertisers, they started the experimental application as early as 2023, which they confidently declared in the spring that it worked brilliantly. Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, said that they were not surprised by the success, and sooner or later it is likely that all users who do not subscribe to the ad-free version of the platform will encounter ads during paused video.
As it usually happens at this time, Reddit was flooded with posts noticing and evaluating the appearance of the new product. Of course, there are also surprised, interested, confused and outraged among them, since these posts are the main primary indicators of new things appearing. A high number of these indicates the wide spread of the format.
I paused my video and this showed up
byu/Pale_Baker3255 inyoutube
YouTube says these ads can reduce users’ legitimate frustration with interrupted videos, but they haven’t added whether it would reduce spots that start playing while videos are playing. By the way, many things have already been tried: Skippable ads were introduced last year, and earlier they also experimented with longer but less frequent ads.
YouTube is not the first streaming platform to try this form of advertising. Hulu, AT&T, and Sling TV have also introduced it before, although there were some that could initially be turned off in the settings menu.
Source: www.pcwplus.hu
