YouTube will show ads on paused video on TVs

YouTube will add ads to paused videos in its TV app. Thirty-second commercials are also being implemented that users cannot skip. Now two unskippable commercials of fifteen seconds are shown in a row.

These options will only be available to advertisers in the YouTube Select program for now. let YouTube know at its annual Brandcast event. That is a program that focuses only on the five percent most viewed ‘ad-friendly’ videos. According to YouTube, 70 percent of Select ads play on a TV and longer ads are already something TV viewers are used to. In addition, advertisements of thirty seconds lead to ‘richer storytelling’, according to the platform. The unskippable 30-second ads will replace the two consecutive 15-second ads for YouTube Select content.

On Select content, if users pause the video, it may continue to be shown in a smaller square with an ad banner visible on the side. That banner can be removed by pressing the Dismiss button. This form of advertising is still an experiment, says YouTube during the Brandcast presentation, writes Variety. It’s unclear when either option will become available to advertisers.

An advertising banner over a paused YouTube video on the TV app. Source: AdWeek