adsense

YouTube to sell video ads on search pages

Pete Wylie — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:03:33 -0500

YouTube made another play to monetize its enormous online video library Wednesday, announcing it will sell sponsored video ad spaces alongside video search results. The ads will be sold in auction style, a clear example of corporate parent Google's influence on the online video powerhouse.

The new service, to be called YouTube Sponsored Videos, will be managed by Matthew Liu. "What we're trying to do is bring the best parts of Google and the best parts of YouTube together," Liu told the Los Angeles Times.

Advertisers will bid for their created online video ad to run on the results pages for certain keywords. The system will be self-service, similar to Google's AdSense platform.

Early adopters of the service claimed high click-through rates and exposure for relatively little expenditure, according to YouTube. The price of ads, since it is auction-based, should increase as advertisers clamor to get placement next to hot keywords.

The new ad format is the latest in a string of innovations for YouTube, including a click-to-buy beta and the introduction of long-form, ad-supported content on the site. The company is trying new ways to capitalize on its industry leading 5 billion-plus video streams per month.

For more:
- see the Los Angeles Times article here

Google announces AdSense for Games

Pete Wylie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:54:44 -0400

After announcing a click-to-buy feature in YouTube videos, Google continued to roll out big plans for online video ads this week, as it announced the release of a beta for AdSense for Games. With the new ad format, game developers will be able to drop text, video or image ads into their games and earn revenue in the process.

The ad displays are completely customizable, and developers are free to position them at any point in their games, such as between levels or after losing a life. Google reported that the ads would be targeted demographically and contextually, and that the ads would be sold through its AdWords sales staff. Google's 2006 acquisition of Adscape Media, which pioneered game ad placement, now appears to be bearing its first fruit.

Google is only opening the beta program to established game developers; to be included, a game must have 500,000 or more plays and derive 50 percent or more of its traffic from the U.S. and U.K.

It remains to be seen how successful or popular the ad model will be. Gamers are finicky and will complain if ads are at all intrusive. But when ads are integrated into the game experience, such as in the Grand Theft Auto series, gamers tend to have a positive response to the "reality" that real advertisements lend the game. Advertisers will also need coaxing to accept a model without significant click-through metrics.

For more:
- see coverage of the launch at Information Week here

Google AdSense To Distribute MacFarlane Video Series

Doug Mohney — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:05:05 -0400

The buzz is swirling around details with Google's deal to distribute Seth MacFarlane's project though AdSense.

MacFarlane, creator of "Family Guy" on Fox, is going to roll out "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy" this September to thousands of web sites with the appropriately targeted demographic. There will be 50 two minute episodes with new characters in the multimillion dollar production and advertisers are going to have to pay up lots more than if they generically placed the same ad through AdSense.

Options for advertisers will include prerolls, a banner to be placed at the bottom of the video or a simple "Brought to you by" note at the beginning with MacFarlane, the underwriting ad agency, Google and the website generating the click/view splitting the revenues four ways. For a larger fee, advertisers can animate original commercials to run with the series.

For more:
- Paidcontent.org breaks down the Google/MacFarlane deal

Related articles:
Survival Tips for Short-Form Video Ads
Counting views and dollars