The news: Ad tech platform Nexxen announced Tuesday that it will expand programmatic access to premium pause ad inventory. The move makes pause ads available for transactions through Nexxen’s supply-side platform (SSP) and enables advertisers to access inventory through Nexxen’s and other DSPs, including Simpli.fi.

Pause ads are moving “from an emerging concept to a proven, high-attention format in CTV,” Nexxen chief commercial officer Kara Puccinelli told EMARKETER. Nexxen’s expansion aims to help brands with “reducing friction, expanding reach and making premium pause inventory more actionable.”

Why it matters: Pause ads are proving their ability to drive action in a crowded CTV marketplace, where ads can feel intrusive and overwhelming.

• The format delivers nearly twice the attention of standard CTV formats, per Wunderkind.
• 51% of viewers surveyed by the Video Advertising Bureau took action after seeing a pause ad.
• Viewers across generations prefer pause ads over frozen screens, per 2025 Magna and DirecTV research.
• Pause ads offer longer exposure windows compared with other formats, with 54% of US ad-supported TV viewers pausing content for 1 to 5 minutes on average.

At the same time, SSPs are making pause ads a bigger piece of their programmatic inventory, giving advertisers more opportunity to activate the format.

• Magnite has expanded into programmatic pause ads and integrated the offering with more than 10 DSPs and “a ton of different publishers,” Mike Laband, group SVP of revenue at Magnite, told EMARKETER.
• TripleLift has also increased its supply of programmatic pause ads through new publishers such as Plex and Xumo.

What’s next? As pause ads become more widespread, the question is whether viewers will eventually grow tired of it as they have with other formats.

• More brands experimenting with pause ads means increased competition and clutter that could reduce the novelty and viewer acceptance of pause ads.
• Brands that fail to refine creative storytelling or evolve their approach to pause ads risk making these ads feel like just another intrusion. Viewers are most receptive to pause ads with perceived value, such as the ability to save offers and receive relevant recommendations; without these features, the effectiveness of pause ads may diminish.
• If advertisers fail to innovate over time and simply fill pause ad slots with generic or repetitive content, viewers could begin to see them as annoying—raising the need for context-aware messaging and personalization.
• While pause ads benefit from longer dwell times, excessive or poorly managed exposure could lead to the same ad fatigue other formats suffer from.

Recommendations for marketers: Expanded programmatic access makes pause ads more scalable, but marketers should watch whether their current effectiveness holds as the format becomes widespread and familiar to viewers.

As the format matures, marketers will need to prioritize strong, regularly refreshed creative to sustain engagement and avoid ad fatigue.

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