YouTube partners content providers in pre-roll ad trial

Content partners include Channel 4, BBC Worldwide, National Geographic, ITN and Discovery Networks.

In the UK, Warner Brothers, Match.com, Activision, Renault and Nissan will be the first advertisers to show pre-roll ads over the next few weeks.

Channel 4 is the first partner to show these pre-roll ads against content, starting today (21 May). The campaign, brokered by PHD, will promote the new Warner Brothers comedy, The Hangover.

Suveer Kothari, head of YouTube in the UK, said: "Since we launched YouTube, we have been trying to balance the demands of users looking for free, entertaining, professional content on the web, premium content owners looking for ways to monetise their content, and advertisers looking for more premium content for them to showcase their tv creative against. We believe this test will help us balance these demands."

The recommended length of each pre-roll ad will be 15 seconds, although there will be an upper limit of 30 seconds. The test partners will be able to sell pre-rolls through YouTube. They will be sold on a CPM basis.