Sling TV will now serve ads on the screen when you pause live or on-demand content, according to an announcement from parent company Dish. But you don’t have to deal with those extra ads if you don’t want to – the paused ad example shared by Sling TV says you can “turn off pausing ads” from the settings menu.
This comes as a relief to an industry that has increasingly struggled to escape intrusive pause ads. Want to stop the show to take a closer look at what’s on the screen? Or would you like to see some close-ups of your favorite actors? Well, it’s almost impossible to do that by pausing ads since they usually take up all or part of the screen.
Like other streaming media, Sling TV also tends to make more money through advertising. The service’s paused ad format will allow advertisers to display video or static content and even include QR codes linking viewers to products. You can press any button to resume what you are watching.
While pausing ads is scary, it’s nice to see Sling TV giving users the option to opt out – other streamers take note.
