PubMatic scales CTV ‘pause ads’ with dentsu as first global partner

New Delhi: PubMatic has teamed up with dentsu to roll out pause advertising campaigns across premium connected TV (CTV) inventory, building on a pilot and a recent quarter in which PubMatic said its CTV business grew 50% year on year and now reaches 26 of the top 30 streaming platforms worldwide. 

The first live campaign promotes the family film “Stitch Head” for Briarcliff Entertainment, with dentsu and Rabbits Black using DirecTV Pause Ads to put the title in front of viewers during natural breaks, aiming to drive awareness and ticket sales without interrupting viewing. 

“This collaboration with dentsu reflects our commitment to advertising innovation that benefits the entire ecosystem,” said Nicole Scaglione, VP of CTV at PubMatic. Dentsu’s Rebekah Shalit, VP, Partnership & Platforms Lead, called pause ads a “fundamental shift” for premium CTV, citing higher engagement at non-disruptive moments and access to “premium inventory moments that traditional pre-roll can’t provide.” 

PubMatic said its Activate platform underpins the rollout, letting agencies plan and optimise pause units alongside standard CTV buys. The company highlighted algorithms that read pause behaviour and content context, expanding contextual targeting as more publishers join, and unified workflows with measurement across static and video pause formats.

The push comes as research cited by PubMatic indicates 81% of viewers pause to avoid missing key moments, with 51% taking an action after seeing a pause ad.

Scaglione said the goal is to pair “high-performing inventory” for buyers with “relevant, non-intrusive advertising” for viewers—positioning pause ads as part of a broader, buyer-first programmatic strategy across the open internet.