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.
I pay for it. It gets rid of the ads when I need a video of how to do XYZ thing. It lets me watch channels that I care about without interruptions. The main thing for me though is when a friend or family member sends me a YouTube video, I don't have to watch ads.
It's weird to me that folks are so hostile towards paying for things they use on the Internet. I mean, I get that venture capital fueled a seemingly endless "free lunch" of new services with small amounts of advertising... but it had to end at some point. It costs a lot of money to run a "YouTube."
People are hostile towards it because Youtube generates enough revenue as is and becomes greedier by the day. People paying for it on top is only making things progressively worse. Free users will only get more and more ads shoved down their throat while premium users experience more and more price hikes. I‘m gonna keep blocking ads the traditional way for as long as I can because I do not see a fair alternative in the long run.
My comment wasn‘t about defending Youtube or anything. The truth is the service can become much worse and still be more profitable so that’s what Youtube is working towards like every other service. Enshittification is at full swing. Google makes more money while creators continue to lose revenue. Things are becoming worse. Just not exactly the way it was described in the previous comment.