YouTube Starts Ad Program
October 9, 2007 by Bruce Walls
YouTube’s parent, Google, started to profit from its 1.65-billion dollar purchase of its [tag-tec]video sharing site[/tag-tec] by letting websites use advertising laced videos and then share in the revenues with Google.
The move is Google’s first move into squeezing money from YouTube, which it bought last year in a stock deal, and marks the first time that it is serving up content along with ads.
Google’s “video units” program enables publishers to embed YouTube videos on their websites using a customized player and then make money from overlay text ads that fade in and out as videos play.
Google product marketing manager Christine Lee wrote in a post at the company’s website, “Nowadays, website publishers realize that getting people to visit your website is only half of the equation. Growing your audience is important, but keeping your audience engaged and staying on your site longer is just as important, if not more so.”
Ads are matched to video content and revenues are shared with website publishers as well as YouTube’s 3000 plus partners that provide video content. These include Extreme Elements, Expert Village, lonelygirl15, Mondo Media, TV Guide Broadband, and Ford Models.
Video units are initially available only in the US for English language websites but the program will be expanded outside the USA in coming months, according to Google.
The video syndication site is keeping one step ahead of the pack when it comes to technology and revenue streams from its videos.
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