A pause ad seen on the Peacock cyclosis religious service that does n’t seem until you stop the video . Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends
There ’s been a bit of teeth - gnashing this week after Google — a society that make its money off advertising — dare to talk about advertising in public .
Before we go any further , let ’s stipulate that when it comes to advertising , there are only two kinds of people : Those who make money off ads one way or another , and those who are subjected to the ads . Generally speaking , the folks in the former category like advertising just hunky-dory . ( It ’d be a little unearthly if they did n’t . ) And , generally speaking , the folks in the latter class probably would be just o.k. if they never saw another ad in their life-time .
A pause ad seen on the Peacock streaming service that doesn’t appear until you stop the video.Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends
Companies that deal advert like advertizing . Companies that buy ads like ad , because they alarm more multitude to whatever it is they ’re selling . And consumers that just want to watch or read whatever it is they ’re learn or reading happen advertizement obtrusive and annoying .
‘ Twas ever thus .
This latest to - do involves what are cognise as “ interruption ads . ” They ’re not novel . Streaming service like Hulu , Peacock , and Max havehad them for a while . Hulu , in announcing them in January 2019,called them“a nonintrusive , witness - start advertizement experience that is both enthral to viewers and in force for brands . ”
intermission ads are new to Google , though . And they get along at a slightly fraught time in which folks — and to be clear , we ’re talking about a comparatively little number of common people — are on edge because of the first appearance of anot - quite - screensaver feature on the YouTube appon Apple TV , which some have ( rightfully ) catch as another possible avenue to get advertising in our corporate faces .
Here ’s what Philipp Schindler , Google ’s main job officer , had to say on April 25 during the company’sfirst - stern 2024 earnings call : “ In Q1 , we see strong adhesive friction from the introduction of a pause ad pilot on connected TVs — a new , non - interruptive ad format that appears when users pause their constitutive content . Initial solvent show that suspension ads are driving hard make lift results and are commanding premium pricing from advertisers . ”
In other words , Google likes them . Advertisers like them . ( You would n’t see them at all , ever , if both of those thing were n’t true . ) And user likely will either hate them or tolerate them . You ’ll hear from the former . You ’ll never find out from the latter , outside of focus groups .
I ’m not a huge devotee of advertizement . ( Despite it , ya make out , at long last paying my bills . ) I get free of it when I can , because I can largely yield to . And I do n’t begrudge companies like Google find new ways to sell ads because that is , after all , its Book of Job . Google does n’t owe us anything as consumer . ( Except maybe for better datum privacy , but that ’s another thing for another day . )
I make up for YouTube Premium because I abhor preroll advertising . I use an ad - blocker on my entire home internet — less so because of display ads themselves , and more because of all the ancillary trailing that come with it .
If pause ads are play well for Google and for advertisers , great . More power to them . There ’s nothing inherently vicious about advertising — ship’s company and other entities need to be able to get their messages across . ( I ’d pay real money to never see another political advertising , though . ) And there ’s nothing inherently malign about suspension ads .
