Roku clarifies how ‘Pause Ads’ work amid issues with some HDR content [U]

Amid some problems with HDR content, Roku is also clarifying how its “Pause Ads” work.

Update 5/6: Speaking to 9to5Google, Roku has cleared up some misunderstandings around “Pause Ads” on its platform. First and foremost, the company says that the Reddit thread making the rounds showcasing this functionality is not utilizing anything from Roku itself. The ad being shown is a “non-Roku” ad, though the company didn’t detail where it is coming from. Presumably, it’s from some other streaming app being used on the Roku device in question..

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Beyond that, “Pause Ads” from Roku are not yet showing on top of HDMI inputs or content from various apps. Rather, this ad format only exists (and has been available for a while now) on the Roku Channel app and content playing within that app, a detail that was missed in our original reporting below, alongside many other reports on the topic. We regret the error, and our original coverage continues below. The company didn’t provide any comment regarding a report on its forums about pause ads showing up on “all apps,” but that report now sits in isolation, knowing the Reddit report is incorrect.

To summarize, Roku says that it is not yet rolling out “Pause Ads” on top of any content besides its own.

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Roku has been working towards putting ads on pause screens for a while now, with the company detailing the “Pause Ad” format on its website. Now, that functionality is actually rolling out to users.

Over the past few days, Roku has been rolling out pause ads to its users across various devices. Users on Roku’s forums and Reddit report seeing the change across different types of devices such as Roku Ultra and Streambar Pro. TechIssuesToday highlighted the start of the rollout. This functionality has been known for a while, with a Lowpass report from last year highlighting a patent for how it would work on top of HDMI inputs, but it’s now out there in the wild.

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Roku demonstrates how Pause Ads work in the video we’ve embedded below.

Roku also recently tested ads that show up when the TV first turns on, before the TV can be used.

Beyond that, Roku also confirmed an ongoing issue with HDR content on its platform right now. Users have noticed that Disney+ content that’s playing in HDR is “washed out.” The company says that it is “investigating the Disney Plus HDR content that was washed out after the recent update.”

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One user shared an example of the washed-out colors using a scene from Andor.