YouTube adverts to be skippable

Google-owned video sharing site YouTube is adding functionality to allow users to skip adverts before videos on the site, encouraging advertisers to make better adverts and to improve the user experience.

The move, set to go down like a lead balloon with their advertisers, is part of their strategy to let advertisers only pay for ads that consumers fully watch or engage with somehow.

Phil Farhi of YouTube said:

"We want to learn who skips, which ads they skip, when do they get skipped, and how can we use that skip as a quality signal.

We want to educate advertisers about what makes high-quality and engaging ads."

It's a daring move that anyone not as cash rich as Google wouldn't be able to do in the current environment.