Do you pause videos on YouTube sometimes? Soon, the popular video hosting site may show you ads whenever you pause videos.
During Alphabet’s earning call for the first quarter of 2024, Senior Vice President at Google Philipp Schindler, revealed information about a test that Google conducted on YouTubed in the quarter.
Google tested a “new non-interruptive ad format” on connected TVs that “appears when users pause their organic content”.
So, whenever YouTube users hit pause, YouTube would show an advertisement on the screen.
Schindler said that these pause ads are “driving strong brand lift results and are commanding attention”.
Pausing videos on YouTube
Pause is an essential YouTube feature. It allows users to stop playback while keeping the video active on the screen.
Pausing differs slightly on different devices. In browsers, pause freezes the screen. On mobile and YouTube’s official app, pausing darkens the screen and displays control buttons.
The experiment showed an ad on the screen instead. Schindler did not describe pause ads in detail. A report from last year suggests that Google has been testing this type of ad format since 2023. Back then, Google showed popup banners around the video that users could hide with a click on the dismiss button.
It is unclear if the first quarter experiment used the same format.
Google’s record revenue and fight against adblockers
Google reported strong earnings for the first quarter of 2024. YouTube revenue increased by 20% in the quarter to $8.09 billion. At least part of the jump can be attributed to Google’s fight against content blockers on YouTube.
Google started to show warning prompts to users with adblockers. Not all saw these, but a sizeable number reported these prompts. While these differed, some blocked access to YouTube until users would either turn off the adblocker or subscribe to YouTube Premium.
Expect increased ads on YouTube in 2024 and beyond. As long as YouTube is the go-to destination for video, Google is going to push ads on the platform and intensifying its fight against adblockers.
Ads drive most of Google’s revenue. Make them annoying enough, and you drive subscriptions as well.
Would you use YouTube if you either had to sit through ads or pay for access?
I would never pay for youtube. As it stands, I froze a debit card that I had on Google Play because it couldn’t be removed entirely and I will not pay for an app again through Google. I would still use youtube for how-to videos if forced to endure ads, but I watch those relatively rarely. And I’d aim to boycott anything advertised when my free choice is to block ads.
This is disturbing. It will probably take somebody a week or two to create a script or extension to block this behavior. Meanwhile, YouTube will see people watching fewer of its videos. I personally will take a break from YouTube until a solution is found.