As Google continues on its quest to improve YouTube for mobile web users it looks as though the video watching experience isn't going to remain ad-free for much longer. The search engine has announced that it is starting to run a test of display ads on select pages of the YouTube mobile site in the US and Japan. The news was announced via the Google Mobile Blog by Christine Tsai, Product Marketing Manager at YouTube:
"This is our first step in testing mobile advertising for YouTube - it will give you a new way to interact with content on the go, while allowing us to learn how video viewers engage with mobile advertising. Our test advertisers will also have an additional branding tool at their disposal and the opportunity to reach the millions of people who visit YouTube every day on their phones".
Earlier this year YouTube expanded its mobile service by allowing users to access a much larger catalogue of videos on mobiles with streaming ability and 3G access. The update also gave mobile users the ability to access their YouTube accounts, view their favourite videos and upload content directly from their mobiles to share online.
Tsai also wrote that Google will be evaluating the results of the test in several weeks, so depending on the findings we may soon be seeing ads on a (very) small screen near you.
