It looks like another one of YouTube’s “best products” (as defined by Eric Schmidt) is arriving; certain professional content creators should soon have the option of selling ads on their own channels.
Abbey Klassen reports, “That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos 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.”
YouTube Is Looking To Expand Sales Force
So YouTube essentially gets to expand its sales force without giving up anything. It may gain a lot, too, as a number of people are likely to find the development appealing.
Both content creators and advertisers should become less leery of the video-sharing site as concerns about mismatched or inappropriate ads become a thing of the past. Some content creators might put more clips on YouTube (or put a few on for the first time), and advertisers could become willing to pay a little more money.
It would indeed make sense if this sell-your-own-ads move is one of the monetization products Eric Schmidt mentioned earlier this year. And even if it’s not, the departure of YouTube’s head of monetization looks less significant as a result.