YouTube shows adverts when you press pause
19.9.2024
Translation: machine translated
YouTube adverts appear before, during and after the video. You will now also see adverts when you pause the video. This annoys users.
The battle has been raging for years: YouTube is inventing new ways to display adverts. As a result, users are looking for ways to circumvent these adverts - for example with ad blockers or VPN servers. Of course, without having to take out a paid YouTube Premium plan.
After YouTube was already displaying adverts before, during and after videos, some of which cannot be skipped, the video portal has now come up with something new: namely showing adverts when you pause a video. It looks like this in the mobile version.
Source: r/youtube
You will still see the still image of your paused video, but it will be minimised and moved to the left. The advert appears on the right.
YouTube has "forewarned", but users are still unhappy
YouTube tested this form of advertising with a small group of advertisers back in 2023. There, "pause advertising" was played out to individual users. Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler announced last April that this form of advertising was a great success and lucrative for both Google and advertisers.
After it was later announced on X and Reddit that Google was now rolling out this type of advertising more widely, the company officially confirmed this yesterday to the tech portal The Verge. Users on the relevant portals have left correspondingly dissatisfied comments.
Less disruptive, but...
YouTube has also emphasised that this type of advertising also has advantages for users. The adverts are "less disruptive" than other forms of advertising. For example, the unskippable adverts, of which several are occasionally played in succession before the video begins or continues. However, YouTube has not confirmed whether this type of advertising will be seen less often in favour of the intermission adverts.
What is clear is that YouTube wants to continue to push the YouTube Premium price plan. If you subscribe to YouTube Premium, the video platform is ad-free and you also get access to the music streaming service "YouTube Music". Some additional features, such as downloading videos, are also included.
The price for a regular individual membership currently costs 15.90 francs per month, while a family account for up to five people costs 23.90 francs. Attention: YouTube occasionally pops up a message with adverts for their premium subscription. For example, if they detect your adblocker. If you take out a plan via such a pop-up, you may also pay higher prices. You can find out more about this problem here.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.