I'm almost always listening to podcasts while doing things like driving, exercising, or biking, so no I can't really dick around with my phone to skip stuff easily most of the time.
I recently discovered, the "next track" button on my steering wheel is not actually "next track" but "skip 30sec" in the podcast app (AntennaPod). Absolute game changer. I skip all sponsors now! YMMW depending on the app.
I had the same problem until I got a PineTime watch. Now I can use the navigation buttons on the watch face to skip ads (safely and responsibly, of course).
I personally don't like watches, but I would be really interested in getting one for payments. I actually have a Pixel watch for that so I don't have to find my wallet to buy something.
Not happy about the tracking, but I disabled what I could.
If PineTime could do payments, I'd buy one today. It's not happening though, which is unfortunate. But maybe I'll get one anyway to see if I like privacy-focused smart watch features.
I'll have to give it another look. Been rocking my Pebble again for a couple weeks now, I missed it quite a lot. The app is horridly outdated though, and the PineTime felt like a great stopgap until it just wouldn't stay paired.