Youtube confirms: Ads appear when you click on pause
YouTube is getting a new advertising format, Google has now confirmed once again: When you pause a video, ads can be displayed.
(Image: Dilok Klaisataporn/Shutterstock.com)
YouTube can now display advertisements when videos are paused. The feature, which has been announced for some time, is now partially active, Google confirmed to technology magazine The Verge. The first users who had already seen the new advertising format had previously reported it on social media.
YouTube has already tested the new advertising format for paused videos with some advertising partners in 2023, writes The Verge. "As we have received a great response from both advertisers and viewers, we have now extended pause ads to all advertisers," a spokesperson told the magazine.
Still images alongside video
It is still unclear how widespread the ads are in paused videos. Heise online has not yet seen them in a random sample. Reports from social media also show the ads in English when playback is paused – so it is possible that the new advertising format is not yet active in Germany or only works on certain playback devices. Either way, it is probably only a matter of time before you see ads in Germany when you press the pause button.
The advertisements displayed when playback is paused appear to be still images: The paused video is shrunk slightly on screenshots posted by users so that an advertising poster can be displayed next to it. Users can find out more about the advertised product via an embedded button.
Amazon has also recently implemented a similar advertising format: Anyone who presses the pause button in Prime Video can also be confronted with advertisements.
If you don't want to see ads on YouTube, you have to subscribe to Google's YouTube Premium. The standard version, which offers video downloads and access to YouTube Music as well as no ads, costs 13 euros per month. Premium Lite for 6 euros per month, on the other hand, promises only limited advertising – music videos can also be displayed with a subscription.
(dahe)