vnunet.com reports that Google is planning on using 30 second pre-roll ads on YouTube beginning next year according to Patrick Walker, European head of video partnerships at Google. YouTube and “the broadcaster” will share revenue from the ads.
vnunet.com also stated:
Walker told delegates at the MipTV conference in Cannes that broadcasters have been enthusiastic about creating the ads, and predicted that 2008 will see “real money coming in” from video advertising.
Google “youtube preroll” and you’ll see what we all already know—YouTube users don’t want pre-roll ads. ClickZ reported almost six months ago that most marketers say pre-roll isn’t the best way to monetize online video. At the time, Google was only in the process of buying YouTube and according to Daniel Blackman, strategic partner for development at Google Video, they were shying away from pre-roll ads.
What has taken Google so long to get to this point? Perhaps vnunet.com’s conclusion casts a little light on the matter:
Google’s revenue from YouTube is likely to get yet another boost following the company’s $3.1bn acquisition last week of digital marketing company DoubleClick.
Google will use DoubleClick’s technology to encourage YouTube users to click from one video to another.
Somehow, that strikes me as an awful lot to pay to encourage clicks…
Obviously, pre-roll is the easiest way to monetize online video, but I don’t know if it will work for YouTube. It depends on how they do it, of course. I’d hate to spend as much time watching a pre-roll ad as I do yet another stupid YouTube video. However, for professional or “real” content, 30 seconds is a small price to pay.
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