Today YouTube announced that some partners who sell their own ads will be able to serve the ads directly into their videos, as YouTube is trying out FreeWheel, which manages video ad inventory. In the past, ads sold by partners were still served by YouTube.
“This will create a more centralized, streamlined process for partners in the test program, making it easier for them to sell ads and make even more money from their content,” says YouTube Product Manager Phil Fahri. “This is an exciting development, because more effective monetization is good for everyone — more money for partners, large and small, leads to the creation of even higher quality content, which leads to a better user experience and more opportunities for advertisers and the YouTube community overall.”
The feature is only available to a closed set of beta partners at this point. It will be interesting to see how it goes once it is opened up to the community at large.
“We’ve been working hard to increase the amount of monetizable content available on YouTube, but we think it’s also important to develop more effective ways for partners to monetize it,” says Fahri. “In some cases, we’ve worked with partners to leverage the strength of their own sales forces, so they can sell their own ads on YouTube. This has proven to be a valuable option for partners who can package together all their content for advertisers, no matter where it’s distributed online.”
At this point about 50 partners are selling their own ads on YouTube.
