Credit: Damien Wilde / Android Authority
- YouTube’s Pause ads format for smart TVs seems to be rolling out to more users.
- It shrinks the video into a small window on the left and displays the ad in a column on the right.
- The ad disappears when you resume playback, or you can dismiss it manually using the given button.
If you watch YouTube on your smart TV and don’t have a YouTube Premium subscription, you might soon start seeing ads when you pause a video. YouTube first announced this “Pause ads” format back in May last year and briefly tested it in select markets. It now appears to be rolling out to more users.
User reports on Reddit and X (via 9to5Google) reveal that YouTube on smart TVs now shows ads when you pause a video. As shown in the images below, the video shrinks into a small window to the left and the ad shows up in a column on the right.