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YouTube is premiering more than full length movie deals this week: the most popular video site on the web has also announced a new advertising program in Sponsored Videos.
In what seems like “duh” step, YouTube announced today that they’ll now be serving CPC sponsored video ads alongside their video search results, targeted by keywords. Already live, here’s an example SERP:
And if you’re like me, you’re echoing these comments, as reported by CNET:
As one reporter asked YouTube executives: “Wasn’t this a no-brainer?”
It’s not as easy as it looks, according to Matthew Liu, a YouTube product manager.
“You’re absolutely right,” Liu told reporters. “In hindsight, it is a natural transition for YouTube to make. We’ve been working on this for months. The key was, we wanted to make sure we got it right. There are a lot of intricacies involved. YouTube is a video discovery platform. We’ve been integrating with Google AdWords for some time, and now we’re at a place where it can be win and win.”
Search Engine Land offers some details on the program: Sponsored Videos must be hosted on YouTube and be available outside the Sponsored Video as well. As such, these videos are subject to the same user reviews and comments as all other videos. The Sponsored Videos can be single videos or entire channels.
This new ad push may come just in time—some film studio execs think YouTube’s ad-based movie deals will never be as profitable as paid models like iTunes.
As we ask with every YouTube story: are you my mother? is this finally the right way to monetize YouTube?
UPDATE: the official announcement.
