At the annual shareholder meeting a month ago, Google promised new YouTube ad formats that would be neither pre-roll or post-roll. Turns out “Buzz targeting” wasn’t the only method they’re implementing, at least according to an Ad Age article today:
Professional content producers — those who come equipped with their own ad-sales teams — are now able to sell advertising on their YouTube channels. That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos [InVideo ads] and display units on the page that hosts the video player. The revenue is split between the content creator and YouTube, just as it would be if YouTube sold the ads.
This is a pretty good move on the part of YouTube—have current content producers do the work of recruiting interested, qualified, related advertisers and then split the profits. I do wonder, though, if content producers get a bigger proportion of ad proceeds from advertisers that they brought in.
Ad Age gives a great prediction of how this could extend further into YouTube’s monetization efforts, using a current content provider & advertiser working in the new ad selling program:
Content creators could not only sell ads that would appear next to their content but also extend the reach of those ads to third-party-created videos on YouTube. One hypothetical: Revision3 sells ads to GoDaddy to run not only on YouTube pages showing “Diggnation” videos but also on other third-party, tech-focused videos. Under such a deal, revenue could be split three ways: among Revision3, YouTube and the producers of the third-party content where the ad ran.
And of course, that’s only if YouTube chooses to share the revenue.
Ad Age also says we can expect to see more advertising efforts from YouTube:
[Product Manager Shiva] Rajaraman said YouTube will conduct a series of brand-effectiveness tests, and it’s not finished experimenting in the ad space.
“We’ll be trying new formats, new ways to engage users,” he said. “No one knows quite how to crack video advertising yet.”
That may be true, but YouTube seems to be getting closer. What do you think: have they done it yet?
