Hate those ads that run before an online video starts?

Google is trying something different for YouTube. Starting today, it will offer advertisers "overlay" clips that are visible on the bottom fifth of the screen. If the viewer does not click on the ad, it disappears in 10 seconds. If the viewer clicks on the ad, the content video pauses and resumes when the person clicks out of the ad.

Google paid $1.7 billion for YouTube last year to reach its audience of more than 50 million to sell ads. But unlike the small ads that appear on Google search, video ads are harder to present in a way that doesn't alienate the YouTube faithful while getting the pitch across.

The new approach "is a relatively unobtrusive way to get an ad in front of viewers," Joe Laszlo, an analyst with JupiterResearch, told CNET.

Eileen Naughton, Google's director for media platforms, told the New York Times, "We want our users to be able to accept and choose what type of advertising they engage in." Google will charge advertisers $20 for every 1,000 times the ads are displayed, the Times says.

The ads will appear for now only on videos from media companies that have licensed their clips to YouTube.

Related Links:

• Silicon Alley Insider: Analyzing YouTube's Revenue Potential
• San Jose Mercury News: Google's YouTube to launch new type of ads