Twitch wants to make ads a bigger piece of its revenue pie, so it’s testing a new format that takes advantage of viewers’ idle time. The platform’s new pause ads will straddle the line between interruptive and inbound marketing by popping up when streams stop running.
Pause ads have become a familiar format on streaming platforms like Netflix and Peacock. Twitch’s take on the popular ad product is comparatively inoffensive. In a post on X, Twitch’s support team explained that the new spots will only show up on the sides and bottom of the screen. Once viewers press play, those ads will immediately disappear.
Twitch is currently experimenting with new creator monetization options by testing multiple ad formats at once. Alongside the pause ads, streamers can also try out skippable spots that offer another unobtrusive revenue source.
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YouTube, like Twitch, has run tests to determine whether pause ads can become a bigger part of its monetization suite. Findings shared by eMarketer explain why platforms are so bullish on this particular format. A Magna and DirecTV survey revealed that 67% of Gen Z and Millennials, 63% of Gen X, and 60% of Baby Boomers prefer pause ads to a blank screen. And the Video Advertising Bureau found that 51% of viewers take action after viewing pause ads.
Despite all of those positive feelings, the Twitch community seems to be reacting differently to the introduction of pause ads. Critics have argued that pause ads will end up being inconsequential on Twitch, since viewers rarely utilize the platform’s pause button (and certainly don’t hit it as often as YouTube viewers do).
It’s not the first time that Twitch’s attempts to diversify its ad suite have sparked backlash. The 2020 introduction of mid-roll ads drew complaints from streamers who worried that the interruptive format would get in the way of exciting gameplay moments.
Twitch has tried to respect its community’s sensitivity regarding ads. In 2024, for example, streamers received more control over the density of the ad breaks that appear on their accounts.
At a certain point, however, Twitch must push past the complaints. The Amazon-owned hub has experimented with a number of different monetization options, ranging from live shopping ads to ad sales deals based around streamers. Perhaps pause ads will be an uninterruptive format that sticks, but Twitch users will have to get over their reservations first.
