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YouTube Takes Skippable Ads Live

Online video viewers, it's time to smile.  The TrueView ad format has launched on YouTube, meaning users will sometimes get the opportunity to pick the least objectionable commercial or even s...
YouTube Takes Skippable Ads Live
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  • Online video viewers, it’s time to smile.  The TrueView ad format has launched on YouTube, meaning users will sometimes get the opportunity to pick the least objectionable commercial or even skip all but five seconds of an ad before watching a clip.

    Note the word "sometimes."  Users shouldn’t get too happy (and advertisers shouldn’t get too scared), since skipping ads won’t always be an option.  Plus, picking one of three ads to watch is nothing new.

    Still, TrueView ads may represent a win for just about everyone.  As we wrote last month leading up to the rollout, marketers will now have to worry less about annoying people and/or getting ignored, and users will be able to decide what sort of viewing experience suits them best.

    At the same time, YouTube’s almost sure to benefit, since TrueView should help both keep marketers and users coming back to the site.

    A hat tip goes to Jason Kincaid, in any event, and if you’re curious how the skipping function works, he explained, "When a TrueView ad unit begins playing, you’ll notice a five second countdown timer – as soon as that’s up, you’ll see an arrow that will let you skip the remainder of the ad and get back to the content you wanted to see, or you can choose to keep on watching the ad."

    Happy skipping, folks.

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