Pause Ads Get a Standard: What IAB Tech Lab's Final CTV Signals Mean for Sellers

Pause ads, menu ads and other non-traditional connected TV formats have mostly been sold one way: through custom integrations and hand-negotiated deals. That limited how much demand could reach them. On July 22, IAB Tech Lab moved to change that by finalizing the signaling guidance for its CTV Ad Portfolio, giving buyers and sellers a common way to describe these formats in programmatic transactions.

What was finalized

IAB Tech Lab published the CTV Ad Portfolio in December 2025, defining a set of streaming ad formats beyond standard in-stream video. The new signaling guidance, which was open for public comment until June 5, covers six of them:

• Pause ads, shown when a viewer pauses playback.
• Screensaver ads, shown when a device has been idle.
• Overlay ads, which sit on top of content, such as across the lower third of the screen or in a corner.
• Squeezeback ads, which shrink the content to share the screen with the ad rather than covering it.
• In-scene ads, placed within the content itself.
• Menu ads, which appear in a TV or app's interface, such as a home screen or navigation menu, rather than during playback.

According to IAB Tech Lab, the work involved updates to AdCOM, VAST and the Native Ads specification. Coverage in PPC Land describes expanded AdCOM values for placement, position and playback signals, and support for media files in VAST non-linear ads, so these formats can be described and delivered with the same machinery as regular video ads. The same report notes that The Trade Desk published pause-ad specifications for its OpenPath direct integrations two days after the guidance was finalized.

Why standard signals matter

Programmatic demand follows what it can describe. If a DSP cannot tell from the bid request that an impression is a pause ad, it cannot target it, price it differently from in-stream video, apply the right creative or report on it cleanly. Custom integrations solve that for one buyer at a time. A shared signal solves it for every buyer that implements the spec.

For sellers, the payoff is reach and cleaner accounting. Inventory that was previously visible only to a handful of direct partners can be offered to more demand, and the resulting impressions can be counted and reported as their own formats rather than disguised as display or video.

What this does not do

A signal is not demand. Buyers still need creative built for these formats, measurement they trust and a reason to believe the placements perform. Pause ads in particular raise practical questions: how long they stay on screen, how often a single viewer sees one and how the experience feels during a paused movie. The standard gives everyone a common vocabulary; each platform still has to answer those questions for its own audience.

How streaming publishers should prepare

1. Inventory what you actually have. List which of the six formats your apps and players can render today, on which devices, and at what volume. Be conservative; buyers remember inventory that was promised and never delivered.
2. Map formats to the new signals. Work with your SSP and ad server to confirm they can pass the finalized values in bid requests and accept the corresponding creative responses. Ask for timelines rather than assuming support.
3. Set format-specific rules. Floors, frequency caps and competitive separation for a pause ad should not be copied from a 30-second pre-roll. Price and cap each format on its own merits.
4. QA creative rendering. Non-linear formats depend on correct sizes, safe areas and timing. Build a test plan per device family before opening inventory to programmatic demand.
5. Protect the viewing experience. Decide in advance how long a pause ad waits before appearing, how it dismisses and how many a viewer can see in a session. User experience problems here show up as churn, not as a line in the ad report.
6. Report formats separately. Track fill, CPM and completion or dwell metrics by format so you can tell which ones earn their place.

Questions to ask your SSP and ad server

• When will you support the finalized CTV Ad Portfolio signals in bid requests, and for which formats first?
• Can you accept and render non-linear VAST responses for pause and overlay placements on every device we run?
• Will these formats appear as separate dimensions in reporting, or be folded into video?
• Can we set floors, frequency caps and deal targeting per format?
• How will you prevent a pause or menu impression from being described to buyers as standard in-stream video?

The answers will tell you how quickly you can move from custom integrations to broader programmatic demand, and which partners are ready to help you get there.

The bigger picture for CTV sellers

CTV has long had a supply problem that is really a packaging problem: plenty of viewing time, but a narrow set of standard ad slots. Formats that monetize moments outside the ad break, like pauses, menus and idle screens, add supply without adding interruptions to content. Standard signaling is what lets that supply reach programmatic buyers at scale.

The publishers who benefit first will be the ones who treat these formats as products, with clear specs, sensible limits and honest reporting, rather than as leftover space to fill. For publishers running CTV, OTT or FAST inventory alongside web and app, HBDR can help map new formats into an existing programmatic setup without disrupting what already works.