They are ads that show up when someone hits pause on their streaming content. Instead of interrupting, your brand gets the screen during that natural break and stays there until the viewer presses play again.

Right on the TV screen. Our programmatic pause ads are not tied to one network or app. They activate across streaming platforms like Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and others whenever a viewer pauses.

Yes. Pause ads run programmatically which means you get the same targeting power as your other CTV campaigns. You can focus by audience, device type, geography, or even broad content categories like sports or entertainment.

They do not live in a silo. Because our pause ads run programmatically, they connect to your broader CTV strategy. You can re-engage the same viewers later across their laptop, phone, or tablet, turning one pause moment into a full cross-device journey.

You will see all the usual campaign metrics plus some extras. This includes impression delivery by content type and QR code scan data so you know when viewers used their phones to take action.

The CTV ecosystems is complex, spanning countless tech providers, content publishers, and aggregators. To ensure that your ad reaches target viewers, you either need in-house expertise and resources or a managed service partner like Strategus. Reporting dashboards also help ensure ad viewability by quantifying metrics like ad impressions and video completion rate (VCR).

Unlike OTT ads on YouTube, CTV ads can not be skipped, which is why video completion rates (VRC) are more of a vanity metric that should always be high. This is also what makes CTV advertising so effective — non-skippable video ads play to viewers invested in the content, making the message stand out and stay top-of-mind

Ad-supported streaming is the future of TV. For this reason, all agencies and brands should be thinking about CTV advertising. It’s also a more affordable channel than traditional TV advertising, bringing small local businesses into the fold. We expect AI to further automate programmatic ad buying in the future — which will result in hyper-personalization, ultra-dynamic creative, and real-time testing at scale. Check out our guide on The Future of TV to learn more.

Taking full advantage of the vast CTV ecosystem requires operating from a tech- and data-agnostic standpoint. Rather than relying on a single programmatic platform, it’s a good idea to find a managed service partner like Strategus that can help take the complexity out of CTV advertising while connecting you with multiple different tech and data providers. To learn more about choosing a CTV services provider, check out our guide, 15 Questions to Ask Your CTV Ad Partner.