From cover songs to parodies to Korean pop music, we were all captivated by what came out of the Internet this year. People watched over 4 billion hours of video a month on YouTube, so I think it’s safe to say that Google’s video portal is the leader of viral videos. Being the hardcore number crunchers they are, the G-Men have compiled a list of the top ten most watched YouTube videos of 2012 and they are:

1. PSY – GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V 
2. Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk off the Earth (Gotye – Cover) 
3. KONY 2012 
4. “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen – Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale & MORE! 
5. Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2. 
6. A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE 
7. WHY YOU ASKING ALL THEM QUESTIONS? .. #FCHW 
8. Dubstep Violin- Lindsey Stirling- Crystallize 
9. Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen.
10. Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights

You guessed it–”Gangnam Style” is the most watched video of the year. It shouldn’t come as a surprise since it overtook Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video in November to become the most watched video of all time. It’s on its way to be the first video to reach one billion hits; as of writing this post it sits high comfortably at 994 million views.

The site recently roped in a bunch of YouTubers to star in a video that mashes up the culturally defining moments that came out of the most watched videos of the year. PSY is prominently featured along with DailyGrace, MysteryGuitarMan, DeStorm, FreddieW, Felicia Day, iJustine, JennaMarbles, EpicMealTime, and many others. It’s embedded above, so enjoy!

Is it a sign of the end of times? Maybe, maybe not. This just in: K-Pop star PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video has generated one billion views on YouTube. That’s an incredible feat, no matter how you look at it. According to Google the clip’s been seen at least one million times in close to 75 countries, so to say it’s a worldwide sensation is quite the understatement. Recently it surpassed Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video to become the most watched video of all time on Google’s video site, and it is here where it will likely remain king for some time.

Google has whipped up an app called YouTube Capture that makes it super simple to record and share video from your mobile device. After downloading, installing, and briefing setting up the app, you are given the tools to quickly upload video to YouTube. After you shoot a scene, you can edit it before sending it off to the Internet. After giving your video a title, tapping the wand icon allows you to flip on or off color correction and stabilization; you can also trim the video and add background music provided by free YouTube Soundtracks. Tap the YouTube icon and you can control who sees your video online; the public setting allows anyone to search for and view your video, the unlisted setting allows only people with a link to your video to view it, and the private setting makes it so that only you can view it. The app also makes it easy to share your video with friends via Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. If you want to share video with your Twitter followers, for example, tap the Twitter icon, allow the app to access your Twitter login credentials, and poof your video is tweeted into the twittersphere.

It’s all rather rudamentary, but that is Google’s point with this app. Want to upload a video to the Internet and share it with your social circles? YouTube Capture will get the job done quick and easy. Download it today in the App Store. Coming soon to Android. Video demonstration after the break.

[Via YouTube Blog] (Click here for more…)

On November 24, ”Gangnam Style” became the most-viewed video on YouTube. On that day its view count reached 805 million. Today its nearly captured 855 million looks. The South Korean rapper PSY managed to dethrone “pop sensation” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video, the previous record holder for most-viewed video. And as catchy, fun, agonizing or annoying you find “Gangnam Style” to be, PSY deserves at least some respect for knocking the Biebs down a peg, am I right? According to YouTube Trends, however, Justin’s 2010 single still receives between 350k and 500k views per day. But that pales in comparison to the new record holder; the song that’ll get you singing Heyyy, sexy lady is being watched 7 to 10 million times a day.

Be a part of history and add one to the tally. Bieber’s in the dust! For now…

Did you read the mind-boggling factoid? One hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second. Or, 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. No matter how you spell it out, this really is remarkable stuff. Furthermore, this amount of uploaded content is an increase of more than 30 percent in the last eight months! In other fascinating news, the video sharing service has exceeded four billion video views globally every day–up 25 percent in the last eight months and “the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching a video every day.”

Are you finding it hard to wrap your head around all this? YouTube has put together a neat visualization at www.onehourpersecond.com that helps interpret the facts. Preview it in the video embedded above, and consciously know that you are contributing to the site’s daily viewership that now exceeds four billion!

[Via YouTube]

The folks at Mountain View are constantly working hard to bring new experiences to the Internet, as well as updating the ones we use most. You know that horizontal (recently painted black) navigation bar that rests at the top of every Google webpage, including the search homepage? Well, it’s going away to save screen real estate and unify all that Google has to offer. The new Google bar isn’t a bar at all, really. It’s comprised of three sections: Google menu, Search, and Google+ tools. All three of these sections will be found in the spot location across all of Google’s products. The Google menu is accessed by hovering your mouse over the Google logo in the left hand corner, saving you a click to reach Google’s other products like Images, Maps, and Gmail. Search sits in the top middle, and easy access to Google+ tools is on the right. Navigating Google, searching, and sharing links with friends is now a more streamlined and cleaner experience. The new Google bar is rolling out soon.

After months of testing a new layout dubbed “Cosmic Panda” Google has finally rolled out an updated look for YouTube. First off, the homepage is totally redesigned and built to be customized to your liking. To the left you’ll find a YouTube Channel line-up. If you’re signed in with a Google account the setup is like this: a list of your Subscriptions, including Google+ and Facebook social integration; From YouTube categories, including trending and popular videos; and Suggested channels for you. To add a channel to your list simply click the Add channels buttons up top to be directed to a listing of all video categories; subscribing to channels from there is a one-click process. Back on the homepage, when you click a channel from your line-up content will appear in the center of the page. Instead of navigating you to an entirely new URL, the new YouTube homepage keeps you in one place while you’re browsing content. Play a video and then you’ll be brought to the uploader’s channel so you can watch the video and comment on it. Speaking of channels, Google has updated those spaces as well with new templates and a sharper layout. And with inspiration from Cosmic Panda, Google has opted to stick with the trial’s consistent gray background, bigger video thumbnails, and a more streamlined watch page. The new YouTube is available to play with today; sign in with a Google account to customize.

Last, Google has produced an interesting video that tells the “short history of the evolution of search, highlighting some of the most important milestones from the past decade—and a taste of what’s coming next.” Watch it after the break. There you’ll also find videos highlighting the new Google bar and YouTube’s cosmetic transformation.

[Via Google 1, 2, 3] (Click here for more…)

Updating Google TV just wasn’t enough for the G-Men. Around the same time Google announced the forthcoming GTV updates, they flipped a switch and introduced four additions to their social network project known as Google+. First, they’ve stolen a page out of Twitter’s playbook and Paris Hilton’s vocabulary to come up with a “What’s Hot” trending topics section. Users can now search and view the most popular items being shared on the network. Next, Google is giving users the opportunity to watch shared content spread across the social network with Google+ Ripples. Described as a “visualization tool for public shares and comments,”  Ripple will allow users to zoom in on shared events and identify top contributors. If this “experimental” feature sounds interesting to you, give it a spin! The Google+ Creative Kit has been added to the Photos section of the site. The kit provides users with more ways to edit and personalize uploaded photos. Last, the company has announced that Google+ is now available to all Google Apps customers worldwide. Read more about it at Google’s Enterprise blog. All of the new updates described here have already rolled out to users, so if you’ve got an account check ‘em out. Video after the break.

Update (11/3): Today Google baked YouTube functionality inside Google+. Login to your Google+ account and you’ll find a new YouTube icon hanging out in at the top right of the screen. When you wave your cursor over it, it’ll expand and ask you ”What would you like to play?” Enter a query and Google will automatically play a related video and generate a playlist of related videos in a separate window. You can easily share YouTube videos with your friends on the network, and they in turn can open a related playlist directly from your post. Also, YouTube playlists will now reveal themselves in Google+ search results.

Update (11/7): And the Google+ updates keep on coming. Today Google rolled out Google+ Pages worldwide. In simplest terms, Pages are profiles for businesses and brands. They look and function almost exactly like individual profiles. A shiny badge is plastered on Pages to distinguish them from regular users. Beyond that, sharing information, circle relationships, Hangouts–it’s all the same. Pages will now show up in Google+ search results. Additionally, Pages will show up in standard Google search results when you add the “+” before your query. For example, when you type “+Pepsi” in Google and hit enter, you will instantly be taken to Pepsi’s Google+ Page. Google’s calling this Direct Connect. Watch it in action after the break, then give it a go on your own.

[Via GoogleBlog 1, 2, 3] (Click here for more…)

You can call it Exteme Makeover: Google Edition. Over the past few weeks Google has been rolling out a new look across many of their services, including the Google homepage, Gmail, Google Calendar, and YouTube. “The way people use and experience the web is evolving, and our goal is to give you a more seamless and consistent online experience—one that works no matter which Google product you’re using or what device you’re using it on,” explains Google. In a word they’re simply streamlining all their intertwined experiences, and the changes are ” founded on three key design principles: focus, elasticity and effortlessness.”

At Google‘s homepage you’ll surely notice the new black strip located across the top; the colorful logo is smaller and centered, the Search and Lucky buttons have a new hue, and the About, Privacy, and Advertising links have been moved to the bottom left-hand corner of the page. In Gmail and Calendar everything is bolder and more roomier to match the new homepage aesthetic. Design cues were certainly carried over from Google+. Google’s also experimenting with YouTube’s look; Cosmic Panda is the codename for the video player’s new sheen. YouTube is positively sleek in its new coat of paint.

Google’s homepage and Calendar changes have been rolling out to users automatically. To experience Gmail and YouTube’s new flairs you must enable it manually. In Gmail, select “Preview” and “Preview (Dense)” themes in the Themes tab in Gmail Settings; to play around with Cosmic Panda head over to this YouTube portal and click “Try it out.” Since Google’s still testing it out and awaiting customer feedback, you can revert back to the classic look at any time.

It will take time for every Google service to fall in line aesthetically with the new homepage, but there’s no denying that Google’s first wave of cosmetic changes is simply delightful and, well, downright sexy.

YouTube’s been offering movies to rent since 2009, but the streaming service never really popped due to lack of popular content. Things are about to change. Thanks to super-duper partnerships with major Hollywood studios like NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. the collection of rentable movies from YouTube just got a whole lot more exciting. In a press release, YouTube says that customers can expect classic films such as Caddyshack, Goodfellas, Scarface, and Taxi Driver to blockbuster new releases like Inception, The King’s Speech, Little Fockers, The Green Hornet and Despicable Me to start making their way into the video store shortly. New titles will continually be added to the library every week. The renting process is simple and works similarly to competitors out there (read: Apple TV, etc.). Sign into your YouTube account, browse the movies library, and rent a movie with your credit card. Pricing ranges from $2.99 to $3.99 depending on SD/HD resolutions and new releases vs. older selections. Interestingly the press release notes that the site supports video in up to 4k resolution, but I don’t see studios uploading that kind of quality in the foreseeable future. Once a movie is rented, customers will have 30 days to begin watching and once the movie is played it will vanish from existence in 24 hours. Note that movies are strictly streamed over the Internet and not downloaded locally. They are viewable on PCs and Google TVs only for the time being. YouTube is trying to differentiate itself by including “YouTube Movie Extras,” free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube’s unique community of content creators alongside the rentable movies.

Head over to youtube.com/movies to check out the new and highly improved movie selection. Full PR with FAQ after the break.

[Via YouTube 1, 2] (Click here for more…)

Just signed out of Gmail and was prompted to check out a new feature in beta called Gmail Motion.

Gmail Motion uses your computer’s built-in webcam and Google’s patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands. Movements are designed to be simple and intuitive for people of all skill levels.

Head over to the elaborately detailed website Google has dedicated to this fun prank. There you’ll find more information about the technology behind Gmail Motion and hear what a “paralanguage expert” and “movement specialist” have to say about it. In due time, the search company plans to expand Motion into Google Docs (creating a pie chart is a riot).

Update: Looks like Google’s pulling a handful of pranks this year. Hop after the break to see what they’re all about. (Click here for more…)

Remember that crowd-sourced documentary film attached to filmmakers Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott I was telling you about back in early July?  Well it’s almost complete and ready for us to enjoy!  Here’s a quick refresher if you need it.  Life in a Day is described as “a historic cinematic experiment to document a single day on Earth.”  Director Macdonald and producer Scott asked people all around the world to film their day on July 24, 2010.  Over 80,000 video clips of people’s lives were submitted (over 4500 hours of footage), and a team of editors managed to whittle it all down into a 90 minute documentary film “that gives an honest and inspiring glimpse of our world.”  Of the 80,000 clips originally submitted, 1,125 of them made it into the final cut.  One of these chosen clips is embedded above; the beautifully shot clip called “Slim Up” was shot by by Toniu Xou and Patricia Martinez del Hoyoa of Spain and features a young girl climbing a human castle in the small town of San Jaume dels Domenys in the Spanish province of Tarragona.  This is just a sneak peak into what the film will encompass.  The film “really gives you a flavor of what it was like to be alive on 24th July 2010,” says Macdonald.

Life in a Day will premiere January 27 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and it will be broadcasted live on YouTube for everyone to see that day at 8PM EST.  Following the premiere the director of the Festival will conduct an interactive interview with Macdonald and the 20 top contributors of the film.  Starting Monday, January 24 you can submit questions and maybe yours will get picked when the interview is streamed after the film.

Bookmark the Life in a Day YouTube channel and check back there on the 27th at 8PM to watch what promises to be an exciting and curious look into a single day of humanity.  Look after the break to watch a recent and informative interview with Macdonald and editor Joe Walker.

Update: National Geographic has partnered up with YouTube to acquire the rights to bring the doc to the States. If you missed Life in a Day when it streamed online, it’s expected that Nat Geo will release it in theatres on July 24, 2011; yes, that is exactly one year after all the footage was shot.  A DVD release with bonus content will follow.

[Via YouTubeBlog; Deadline] (Click here for more…)

Ah 2010, what a year it has been.  What’s the best way to find out what was on everyone’s minds over the course of the past year?  By looking at the top Google searches, top Twitter trends, and most watched YouTube videos, duh!  The search giant has gone all out this year with their public Google Zeitgeist 2010.  What were this year’s hottest search terms?  Well, just look in the bar graph above!  The creepy video chat service Chatroulette took the top prize as the fastest rising query, and the rest of the list includes celebrities Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Apple’s iPad, game portals Friv and GameZer, ringtone maker Myxer, and social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.  Click here to browse the entire Google Zeitgeist report.  Search terms are categorized subject matter and region, and Google also put together some snazzy interactive maps to support the data analytics.

Look after the break to learn about the most popular Twitter trends and the most watched YouTube videos of 2010. (Click here for more…)

Ya’ll remember the introduction to YouTube Leanback, the minimalistic way of browsing and watching YouTube videos on the desktop?  Well now that YouTube and the Leanback viewing experience has found a second home on the television through Google TV, the search giant has decided to create and disseminate a YouTube Remote app for Android users (sorry, iPhoners) that allows you to control Leanback using your phone.  Setup is simple.  You “pair” your phone to your television (or PC) by logging into your YouTube account on both screens and boom!  Now you can “find and queue up videos to watch, send them all to Leanback with a single tap…[and] play, pause, skip forward and back and even control the sound volume.”  The power of YouTube user control lies in the palm of your hand.  The free Android app is available for download today.

[Via YouTubeBlog]

Glee just got 8-bit’d.  From The Station and Doctor Octoroc, the guy who brought us Dr. Horrible in 8-bits, comes a new YouTube interactive game starring your favorite Glee club New Directions.  You’ll recognize the music, the characters, and the locations in this Pokemon-style video collection.  Once you watch this first video all the way through, you will be prompted at the end to choose where to go next.  Mash play and give it a go!

[Via NYMag]

You’ve heard of UStream?  Well Google is looking to add similar functionality to their popular video site.  Today and tomorrow YouTube will be testing a live streaming platform with four content partners: Howcast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom and Young Hollywood.  The platform seemlessly integrates live streaming into a YouTube channel page.  All they require of selected broadcasters is a webcam or external USB/FireWire camera.  Easy peesy, right?  A “Live Comments” module sits to the right of the live video stream; this gives viewers and broadcasters the ability to communicate with one another.  Remember this is only a two-day trial only for the specified content partners; Google promises to ”evaluate rolling out the platform more broadly to our partners worldwide” at an undisclosed date.  So don’t think you can broadcast live your own keyboard cat doing his thing for the world to see…yet.  Click the links provided above (or scrub through the interactive embedded YouTube TV-mabob) to catch live content before time runs out.

[Via YouTubeBlog; Engadget]

VEVO, the vast and growing music video portal on YouTube, is now available in app form.  Besides containing over 20,000 music videos from more than 7,000 artists the VEVO app also brings with it:

The VEVO app is only available in the U.S. and Canada.  iPad and Android versions are coming soon.  Download it for free here.

[Via VEVOBlog; Gizmodo]

Since its inception way back in 2005 YouTube limited video upload length to 10 minutes.  After reviewing their most requested features, YouTube has decided to increase that limit by 50 percent to 15 minutes.  Up to this point only revenue-sharing “parterns” have been allowed to upload video longer than 10 minutes, but now good ‘ol regular users can get in on the fun.  I’m not so sure if I need to witness an extra 5 minutes of “double rainbow all the way” (OK, maybe I do), but this increase will definitely help out those users who upload lengthy tutorials; now you might notice a smaller amount of videos being broken up in “parts” thanks to the increase time limit.  Take heed: “If you’re uploading a video that was previously rejected for being too long, you’ll have to go into “My Videos” and delete it before attempting to upload it again.”

In other YouTube news… do you remember the super simple but classic and highly addicting game called Snake?  It was preloaded onto many early Nokia dumbphones back in the day.  It’s the one where you take the form of a snake and your goal is to collect small food pellets the pop up in different areas on the screen; every time you eat a pellet the snake grows longer.  You lose when you tie yourself up and make the snake’s head run into a part of its body or run into the edges of the screen.  Anyway…YouTube has incorporated the game into all of its videos as an easter egg.  While you’re waiting for a video to start streaming (or if it gets stuck buffering) start mashing the left arrow key on your keyboard to turn the video loading circle icon into a snake; play with the directional keys.  If you want to give it a try but have fast Internet speeds, trying loading an intensive HD 1080p or better yet a 4K resolution video.  Happy trails.

[Via YouTubeBlog; Engadget, here & here]

Every day, 6.7 billion people view the world through their own unique lens. Imagine if there was a way to collect all of these perspectives, to aggregate and mold them into the cohesive story of a single day on earth.

Life in a Day, a YouTube compilation video to be largely edited by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) and executive produced by director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner), will attempt to tell such a story.  It’s being hailed as a “historic cinematic experiment” that relies on you (yes, you) to contribute to the short film.  If you want to participate in the effort, all you have to is capture events that happen in your own life on July 24 and upload your video to the Life in a Day channel by July 31.  Here are some suggestions from Google: “You can film the ordinary — a sunrise, the commute to work, a neighborhood soccer match, or the extraordinary — a baby’s first steps, your reaction to the passing of a loved one, or even a marriage.”  Head over to the channel for other ideas that may inspire you.  So here’s the deal: If your footage is selected to be put into the film, you’ll be credited as co-director and if you’re lucky you’ll get to attend the premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival with 19 others.  If you don’t make the final cut, Google reminds you that your submitted footage will live forever on the channel “as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010.”  Sappy, but it’s true!  It’s so easy to do these days, you might as well give it a shot.  On the 24th, whip out your Flip cam and take your dog for a walk.  Who knows, maybe you and Scrappy will make it big.  Need some words of encouragement?  Look after the break for a pep talk from Ridley Scott; the Nike shout-out aside, it should get some creative juices flowing.

[Via YouTubeBlog] (Click here for more…)

Over the course of the last few days Google made a number of exciting announcements concerning its popular video site YouTube.  Read on for all the juicy details.  And make sure to peek after the break where you’ll find two brief videos that outline Leanback and YouTube Mobile with the help of visuals.

YouTube Leanback: Leanback is a new way to watch videos on YouTube.  It makes the whole experience of watching Internet video feel more like you’re watching television.  Here’s how.  When you head over to  www.youtube.com/leanback, you are asked to login to your YouTube account.  Once that’s done, you enter the Leanback portal which instantly promotes minimalism.  A video instantly begins to play from a folder called “Your Feed.”  The videos found in this group are all based on your YouTube account settings, preferences, subscriptions, and previously watched videos.  And if you happen to have your YouTube account connected to your Facebook account, videos your friends are watching and sharing will find a home there too.  In addition to “Your Feed”, you can also browse all of the popular YouTube categories that include Comedy, Education, Entertainment, Music, News & Politics, and more.  If you have any uploaded videos in your account, they will show up at the end of this list.  Videos will automatically stream at their highest quality (HD if available).  Everything in Leanback is controlled with the four arrow keys, the space bar, and the enter button on your keyboard.  For now, mouse control is not supported.  The lowest level of the UI is the content categories I just described.  If you click the up arrow, the usual playback controls pop up (play/pause, rewind/fast-forward, previous/next).  If you click the up arrow once more, a search bar appears.  When you search a term, all related content will show up in its own folder next to “Your Feed” down below.  And that’s it, really.  Leanback is all about video playback first, control second.  The concept is neat; login to your account and presto–video (that should be) tailored for you begins to play and you can quickly and easily scrub through it.  Google calls it “effortless viewing.”  So watcha waiting for?  Have at it!

4K video support: Chew on this: “At 4096 x 2304 pixels, 4K is over four times the size of 1080p.”  So if you thought HD was good, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.  Anyway, now YouTube supports “original video resolution from 360p all the way up to 4K.”  When a 4K video is played, you will have the option to select “original video” to view it at its highest quality.  But don’t get too excited just yet.  You need the proper monitor to view such high grade video; even Google claims that the ideal screen size to view 4K content is 25 feet.  Watching 4K footage also requires extremely fast bandwidth.  Since 4K camcorders and projectors are very expensive they have yet to make it into the mainstream.  But you know what?  I think it’s a great move on Google’s part to start supporting it today in preparation for tomorrow.  Feel free to check out some of the first 4K videos to hit the site.  Just beware of the bandwidth limitations and the fact that you most likely cannot view these videos at their proper resolution just yet.

YouTube Mobile: The mobile version of YouTube (http://m.youtube.com) was launched back in 2007.  Since then, we have become more reliant on cell phones and other portable devices, and users are demanding a more broader YouTube experience when they’re on the go.  That was Google’s cue to revamp the mobile site with updates too appease their most loyal fans.  Let’s run down the most important updates, shall we?  It’s speedier; the user interface incorporates more touch-friendly elements; many features from the .com site have transferred over including search query suggestions, the options to create playlists, and the ability to designate “favorite,” “like” or “unlike” videos; and unlike YouTube apps (ie. iPhone’s YouTube portal), the mobile site will see improvements on a more constant, regular basis.  Click here from your device to check out all the new features and options now available at your fingertips.

[Via YouTubeBlog, here, here & here]   (Click here for more…)

On June 16 YouTube introduced an online video editor that allows YouTube members to complete simple edits on their uploaded videos.  The YouTube Video Editor allows you to “combine multiple videos you’ve uploaded to create a new longer video, trim the beginning and/or ending of your videos, add soundtracks from our AudioSwap library of tens of thousands of songs, and create new videos without worrying about file formats and publish them to YouTube with one click — no upload necessary.”  Google says the new editor is “ideal for merging single, short clips into a longer video” and ”for trimming a long video down to the moments you really care about.”  Currently the video editor can be accessed at YouTube’s TestTube page; since it’s a new product, YouTube is asking its users to give it a try and provide appropriate feedback.  So give it a shot!  If you fall in the category of people who love to shoot and upload videos to YouTube but cannot afford/find the proper editing software, the free and easy to use YouTube Video Editor just might make all your dreams and wishes come true.

Here’s more YouTube news for you to chew on (and get rather excited about).  According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google senior product manager Baljeet Singh says that Google is readying a new YouTube feature dubbed “skippable” ads.  In the future, YouTube video windows will include a new button that when clicked will stop those annoying ads from running before videos.  Apparently Google has been “playing around with it for the last three quarters and seeing really great results.”  Singh believes that the notion of skippable ads will force advertisers to create more compelling advertisements so customers won’t want to skip them so often.  Adverisers will not be charged for skipped ads.  In addition, YouTube viewers will ability to choose from a series of ads to watch before particularly longer videos (you might have experienced this using Hulu).  Listen here, Google: If you give us the ability to skip ads, WE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO SKIP THE ADS.

[Via YouTubeBlog; GoogleSystem; WSJ]