SpotXchange have announced a new service called SkipIt. This will allow users to skip video advertisements that they do not find to be to their liking.
“If I see that Esurance ad on CNN one more time, I’m going to lose my mind—it’s great, it’s the guy from the office, it’s funny, but I’m sick of it,” said Mike Shehan of SpotXchange. “I don’t click on some CNN videos because I know I’m going to get a video ad, and I’m the CEO of a video ad company.”
SkipIt will give users a few free skips to start and then will provide ways to earn more. The goal is not to shaft the advertisers or get fees from consumers but to help both parties better communicate with each other.
“It was a little bit of a nerve-wracking conversation,” said Shehan. “We were going to our advertisers and saying, ‘So…we’re going to have a product that allows users to skip your ads. By the way, if they do skip your ad, you won’t pay for the ad.'”
Advertising companies were actually quite open to the proposal, with one company saying it would offer 10 free skips to anyone who agreed to answer a five question survey about why he or she hated the advertisement enough to skip it. “We’re going to try to find ways to allow our users their skips without actually using money,” Shehan said.
Publishers are credited for the skipped impression for more than they would have paid for the spot to begin with. In the end, the goal is to provide vital data. “If you start to offer the ability to skip ads, you can measure the creative burnout on the ads themselves,” Shehan said.
Source: AdWeek
