Has Google found a way to monetize video?
Posted by Melissa Fillau on 24 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: Search Engine News
Sponsored Video’s have finally arrived on YouTube and people are asking why it has taken so long. Apparently they wanted to get the experience working properly before launching into anything, but have they got it right?
This is, admittedly, great news for those who would like more exposure for their videos, but is that great news for YouTube users? Any appalling video can make its way to the top of the Sponsored Video’s section if they pay enough.
The whole system is very similar to AdWords, as you can bid on specific keywords in order for users to find your Video. These Sponsored videos will be displayed alongside the search results. At the moment, the system is working on a cost per click basis, which means that the advertisers will only pay when their videos are actually clicked. The more you pay the higher up your video will appear in the sponsored results section. In other words, you can buy your way to the top! Obviously advertisers with more relevant videos will eventually get lower CPC’s due to the good click through rates, but there is still the possibility of out-bidding the competition.
All Sponsored Videos have to be uploaded on YouTube in the normal way initially, which means that they are still subject to user reviews but with the added advantage of YouTube Insights (YouTube’s very handy analytics tool). At least you will be able to recognise a highly-rated video before selecting it but this doesn’t apply to new videos that haven’t yet had any exposure, proving Google’s remark that Sponsored videos are not just for advertising purposes but are also a useful way to get videos viewed amongst the multitude of videos available on YouTube. Currently, 13 hours of video are uploaded every minute, which means that getting exposure for your video could be quite a hefty task.
Sponsored Videos only came into play on the 11 November and is only available in the US, so there is not a huge selection just yet. The system is easy enough for anybody to use, so I’m sure people will start utilising it soon enough, even if it is just for exposure. We have yet to see if Google will make the money they are hoping for but only time will tell.
