FAST Platforms Shift to Pause Ads and Direct Sales as CPMs Fall
Montreal – November 03, 2026 -- FAST platforms can no longer rely on the traditional 30-second pre-roll, and executives from Xumo, LG and Equativ say pause ads, shorter spots and direct sales are the way to protect CPMs. The panel, moderated by Stingray Chief Revenue Officer David Purdy at TVOT Montreal 2026, focused on raising revenue per hour without driving viewers away.
Pause ads and 6-second spots target CPM pressure
JF Cote, Board Member at Equativ, said younger audiences will not sit through long ad breaks, which is pushing the market toward 15-second and 6-second formats. Stefan Van Engen, VP of Content Programming and Partnerships at Xumo, said full-screen pause ads that trigger when a viewer pauses video-on-demand content are currently earning premium CPMs. Garrett Winkler, Head of LG Channels (US and Canada), said LG is testing interactivity, squeezebacks and overlays.