Just as desktop users have a mind of their own to watch or skip advertisements before videos, smartphone and tablet owners can experience the same with the rollout of YouTube skippable ads for mobile. Dubbed TrueView video ads, the tool is available via AdWords and allows people to skip or watch ads while perusing clips on Google’s video website.
This move has been implemented to expand ad reach and recall among consumers wielding mobile devices. The promotional content that is streamed before the desired video rolls out can be skipped after a span of 5 seconds. Just like the desktop versions, the screen displays a skip bar for those who do not wish to watch the advertisements.
“We’ve rolled out a number of specific mobile ad formats on YouTube over the past year, making it easier for advertisers to reach people with great ads and content creators to monetize mobile views. Now we’re extending this further by launching TrueView in-stream video ads on mobile devices,” states a post on the official Google Mobile Ads blog.
Ad developers need to pay only when people watch their advertisement and can select the clips to promote their brand accordingly. They may either target a particular niche or stream their ads randomly across many videos. To top it off, they have the opportunity to experience a ‘buy one and get one free’ scheme. Each view earned by a particular ad developer can be followed up by another via sharing.
This makes sense considering that a user interested in a specific ad from a source may want to look for some more content from the same quarters. They may head over to the company’s website or even share the concerned clip with pals. Mountain View claims that these are all ways of improving multi-screen ad campaigns.
YouTube skippable ads for mobile are currently being tested for target mobile devices and the feature will be incorporated in other smartphones and tablets soon.