YouTube announced that it will soon give viewers the option to skip ads on mobile.

Originally launched in 2010, TrueView allows individuals to skip ads they don’t like after a five second countdown. Previously, ads placed before mobile videos were traditional pre-rolls, meaning that they couldn’t be skipped.

While you might be worried that this option will result in no one watching, YouTube believes that these ads lead to better engagement. Viewers only watch the ads they like and advertisers only pay when someone chooses to watch. The company claims that some advertisers actually saw a four percent increase in clickthrough rates.

The timing of this couldn’t be better since Apple announced that the YouTube app won’t come pre-loaded on iOS 6 — a move that actually proves beneficial for Google and advertisers. A new app made entirely by Google would allow the company to monetize the videos viewed on it, something that can’t be done currently.

Mobile-enabled TrueView in-stream campaigns can be controlled through the AdWords for Video dashboard. As the new option rolls out to more videos, it will be interesting to see how people engage with different types of ads on mobile compared to desktop.

[Via: Mashable, Image credit: Phil and Pam]