• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, October 2, 2012

In late 2010, YouTube debuted its TrueView in-stream ad format, which lets consumers skip in-stream pre-roll ads, and only charges advertisers for those ads that consumers actually watch.

How’s it doing? Well, after examining 92 TrueView campaigns, Google reported Tuesday that within two weeks of a campaign’s debut, every dollar invested in YouTube returned (on average) $1.70 in sales. That, according to the search giant, is 2.4 times more efficient than TV ads.

Google also found that TrueView ads led to a 36% increase in site visits, on average, and a 36% boost in searches for featured brands.

Yet, as Tod Sacerdoti, founder and CEO of BrightRoll, recently reported, the average skip rate for TrueView ads remain greater than 80%.

For its part, Google recently reported that between 15% to 45% of YouTube viewers choose to watch TrueView ads -- and that about 65% of all ads that play before YouTube videos on computers are skippable.

How can brands improve their odds that viewers will stick around for their entire message?

“Force yourself to create new content,” Suzie Reider, Head of Industry Development at YouTube, told an audience of marketers and publishing executives at OMMA Global on Tuesday.  

In other words, too many brands continue to repurpose content that was created for TV and other media channels.

The important thing is that marketers recognize the value of viewer choice, Reider notes. “When people choose, they remember.”