The news: Amazon-owned livestreaming service Twitch is expanding its ad options as it begins experimenting with pause screen ads, the company announced. The new format aims to make Twitch ads feel less intrusive while ensuring brands show up at key moments and creators have additional revenue sources.

The potential: More platforms are embracing pause ads as a low-disruption way to engage highly attentive viewers.

Pause ads are perceived more positively than other ad formats. Audiences across generations who watch ad-supported content actually prefer pause ads to a frozen screen; 67% of Gen Zers and millennials, 63% of Gen Xers, and 60% of Baby Boomers hold this preference, according to Magna and DirecTV. This highlights broad acceptance of pause ads as a less intrusive and more engaging format.

Fifty-one percent of viewers take action after seeing a pause ad, according to the Video Advertising Bureau, while 81% of viewers pause content to avoid missing what they’re watching. This underscores pause ads’ broad potential to drive consumer action at a time when attention is fragmented and advertisers must work harder to capture meaningful engagement.

Combined with the 44.5% of marketers who feel that livestream ads are somewhat or very effective, the new format could accelerate broader ad adoption on the platform.

Implications for marketers: While many marketers have found livestream ads effective, the format often lags behind other video opportunities in media planning. Twitch’s move could broaden livestreaming’s appeal to advertisers that previously overlooked the strategy in favor of formats like short-form video and CTV.

Pause ads give brands a way to reach users for longer stretches of time: 54% of viewers pause for one to five minutes, and 11% pause for up to 15 minutes, compared with just 8% who pause for less than 30 seconds. That extended dwell time offers exposure that few other digital ad formats can replicate—and positions Twitch to more effectively capture ad dollars as brands seek more effective video ad placements.