Creative supply-side-platform TripleLift on Thursday brought more publishers into the fold for the company’s programmatic Pause Ad solution as the format continues to gain traction on connected TV.
Pause Ads, those that fill the screen with an advertisement when a user presses pause during their viewing session, were born out of the CTV experience. They still represent a new format but have been adopted across a wide range of major platforms and are relatively more mature than some of other types of innovative and interactive CTV ad formats that are on the rise.
TripleLift’s announcement named free streamers Xumo and Plex among the latest wave of publishers to sign on, joining existing partners like DirecTV Advertising. It said the expansion now makes TripleLift a one-stop shop for scaling non-interruptive CTV creative for brands and agencies.
Variety recently wrote about major streamers putting increased focus on the Pause Ad format and it’s also one of the popular new formats that IAB Tech Lab identified and is working to help standardize to make buying and selling easier, more uniform and scalable across the industry.
Pause Ads represent an opportunity to get in front of viewers without disrupting the content experience as they’ve already actively chosen to take a break, and potentially at a more leaned-in moment. It also gives publishers or streaming service providers net-new CTV ad inventory as it’s a distinct opportunity from traditional commercial breaks. And they provide the opportunity for call to action or retail media with the addition of QR codes.
For TripleLift specifically, the company touts three benefits from the programmatic creative tools it offers, including: Programmatic Pause Ads that don’t require an additional creative fee; quick time to market with brands able to go live within five business days using one existing video asset; the ability to transform static assets into ones with dynamic elements like QR codes and brand logos, enabling direct consumer action with the TV screen.
Speaking on stage with TripleLift CRO Ed Dinichert at Ad Week New York last month, DirecTV Advertising SVP of Product & Partnerships Matt Van Houten discussed work with the vendor on Pause Ads and gave a nod to IAB Tech Lab’s work as helping boost adoption among brands and buyers.
Van Houten noted that DirecTV has been trying Pause Ads since 2020 using intellectual property but said that consumer response has recently turned more favorably to the format with 91% on streaming saying they’ve used a Pause Ad, per a study done with Magna Global study over the summer.
He also noted that it’s a leaned-in experience, where 54% of the time DirecTV sees engagement on a Pause Ad between 1-5 minutes long. “So it’s a significant engagement.”
Still, speaking to the work IAB Tech Lab’s doing, he acknowledged “it’s hard to scale innovative new formats,” in part because all of the digital real estate that streaming and TV platforms have are a little bit different.
“I’d say brands and advertisers have not been… totally jumping in with both feet, knowing that they have to do a lot of custom creative work across a lot of different platforms to get that scale,” Van Houten said of new formats. However, “I think that’s changing now,” he added, in part because of “IAB Tech Lab leaning into putting standards behind the Pause Ad and other formats, which will help.”
Also helping is the fact that so many platforms, from major SVODs like those from NBCUniversal and Disney to free streamers like Xumo, have now adopted the format.
“So many companies now have leaned into the Pause ad that it’s gone mainstream, and like anything else in this industry, you’ve got that flywheel effect,” he said, while also giving kudos to TripleLift for enabling programmatic buying which Van Houten thinks is “what’s going to take it to the next level.”
Fubo claimed a first in 2025 when it said it would offer Pause Ads programmatically through Magnite’s ClearLine. And for TripleLift, its solutions have full VAST 4.0 support and certified integrations with The Trade Desk, DV360 and Viant.
Another reason why publishers are leaning into Pause Ads is they appear to work.
Per Van Houten, “Pause Ads have been very performative.” For DirecTV, he said a Pause Ad versus a traditional 30-second ad on average results in 6% higher incremental reach, 34% better unaided brand recall and 17% more brand awareness.
He also emphasized the opportunity for retail media – pointing to previous lackluster performance of QR codes as the phone scanning during a traditional spot created friction, meaning “not a tremendous amount of adoption.”
But that’s changing with Pause Ads.
“Now you have a QR code and a pause event that’s leaned back, and we’re seeing an unbelievable amount of engagement with the QR code,” Van Houten said, citing improvement of 5-10x depending on the category.
Per TripleLift’s Thursday announcement, Pause Ads result in 65% interaction rate with dynamic creative elements like QR codes among viewers exposed to them. It also cited stats from a TripleLift study that showed a more than 15 percentage point increase in purchase intent, proving Pause Ads can bridge awareness and conversion.
Certain platforms see the Pause Ad format better suited for different content types but in DirecTV’s case, Van Houten contended that within content, “sports is the most-paused content type” compared to general entertainment news and other. So for example, a food delivery service on a pause ad while watching sports “you’re going to see high adoption there,” he said.
As for interactive Pause Ads enabled by QR codes, DirecTV’s Van Houten sees commerce opportunity to use the format to port directly to fulfilment centers or retailers.
“I think the Pause Ad certainly for retail media specifically has a great opportunity to get you from engaged viewer to your product SKU as fast as possible, in as few clicks as possible. That’s the beauty I think of where we are,” he said, categorizing Pause Ads as in the fifth or sixth inning of the proverbial baseball game.