YouTube Testing Inline Ads

Liz Gannes spotted a new type of advertising on YouTube, the first ads to appear within the YouTube video player. These ads appear as links below the video, and if you click on the link, a video ad appears superimposed on the (now-paused) video. Also, after the video, YouTube shows links to related videos and to the ad, in case you missed it. Seems pretty unobtrusive, and certainly not as annoying as pre- and post-roll ads.
The ads don’t appear in embedded videos on other sites, and a yellow progress bar indicates the presence of the ad.
If YouTube sticks with these sort of smart ads, they’re going to have a winner. Don’t annoy the user, profit, that’s what’s always worked for Google.
Screenshots here.

Original post by Nathan Weinberg