Yahoo plans to let users skip some pre-roll ads embedded in its videos, and won’t charge advertisers for those skipped ads. The new format, which will include a button users can click to skip an ad, will launch later this year. YouTube will also begin offering users a choice of the ads they can see within longer videos. YouTube said it began studying skippable ads last year, and learned that skip rates differ greatly depending on the quality of the ad, which could even encourage advertisers to commit to making their ads more compelling, since strong creative would keep skip rates low. Google, meanwhile, is similarly testing a cost-per-action strategy, via which marketers would pay only for ads that have been acted upon by consumers - such as a purchase or registration on a web site.
