YouTube first spoke about pause ads last year when it started trialing them in select regions. At the time, the company said that when you pause a video, it will shrink, and an ad will appear next to it.
“In Q1, we saw strong traction from the introduction of a pause ads pilot on connected TVs, a new non-interruptive ad format that appears when users pause their organic content,” Schindler noted. He went on to share that YouTube’s pause ads are “driving strong brand lift results” and “are commanding premium pricing from advertisers.”
Schindler didn’t share any timelines for when pause ads will start appearing on YouTube, but we know they’ll first roll out on smart TVs. The nature of these ads, including their duration, skippability, and more is still unclear. We also don’t know if Google plans to introduce these ads on YouTube’s mobile apps.
Which Sponsor Block skips. My point is that the viewing experience is currently better on YouTube despite the enshittification because the competition is worse. The least would be to support chapter marks but this is one area this specific competitor also lacks and no Sponsor Block alternative for Nebula exists. For much shit on YouTube there are workaround like Sponsor Block. For shit on other platforms these don’t exist.