Lots of YouTube news today. First, the company has announced that it’s running a “small test” of skippable pre-roll adverts – they run before videos, but users can choose to skip them. “We know what you’re thinking: who would choose to watch an ad when they can skip it? Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out,” says YouTube’s blog post, which goes on to suggest that previous research indicates that 15-second pre-rolls see ‘completion rates’ as high as 85%. Separately, YouTube has announced plans to up the maximum resolution of video uploads to 1080 pixels – true high-definition – later this week. “For our content creators, we want it to look as good or better than the source’s quality,” says YouTube’s Hunter Walk. Finally, WMG videos are making their way back onto YouTube, surrounded by the label’s own branding, ads and prominent links through to products.YouTube update – skippable pre-rolls, 1080p HD videos and WMG branding
This Music Ally article is available to everyone
As a full subscriber to Music Ally, you get access to our Article and Data archives going back to 2002, as well as all issues of the Insight Report and Sandbox
November 13th, 2009 by Music Ally
Lots of YouTube news today. First, the company has announced that it’s running a “small test” of skippable pre-roll adverts – they run before videos, but users can choose to skip them. “We know what you’re thinking: who would choose to watch an ad when they can skip it? Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out,” says YouTube’s blog post, which goes on to suggest that previous research indicates that 15-second pre-rolls see ‘completion rates’ as high as 85%. Separately, YouTube has announced plans to up the maximum resolution of video uploads to 1080 pixels – true high-definition – later this week. “For our content creators, we want it to look as good or better than the source’s quality,” says YouTube’s Hunter Walk. Finally, WMG videos are making their way back onto YouTube, surrounded by the label’s own branding, ads and prominent links through to products.