The Google-owned video sharing platform has widely rolled out "pause ads" ‒ static advertisements that appear on-screen when a video is paused ‒ to all advertisers. Already popular with various streaming services, experts say pause ads are an easy way for platforms like YouTube to add another revenue stream.

First, YouTube subjugated viewers to longer unskippable ads. Now, not even pausing your screen will be an escape from them.

It’s been nearly six years since we warned you that ads were coming for your pause button and 18 months since Google revealed that YouTube would serve them up, too. Now, YouTube confirms advertisers can broadly target your paused screentime: “As we’ve seen both strong advertiser and strong viewer response,