YouTube is by far the most visited online video site in the world with Hulu coming in second in America, according to recent studies. The problem for YouTube is that the vast majority of the videos on its site are made by individual users and the unpredictable quality and content makes it difficult for advertisers to advertise on the videos.
To help increase the available video space for advertising, YouTube is trying to woo TV and film studios to put their professionally made content on the website and thereby give advertisers a predictable place to run ads on the video site.
Neowin reports that YouTube is set to start a trial deployment of pre-roll video ads on select videos from providers like BBC Worldwide, ITN, Discovery, National Geographic, and Channel 4. The ads are reportedly sold at a flat rate per 1,000 views.
YouTube is said to recommend a length of 15 seconds max for the video ads, but offers the advertisers up to 30 seconds to run ads before the requested video begins to play. Among the advertisers taking part in the trial run of the pre-roll ads are Activision, Renault, Match.com, Nissan, and Warner Brothers.
The first of the ads set to debut will be for the new Warner Brothers film "The Hangover." Neowin quotes the head of YouTube UK saying, "Since we launched YouTube we have been trying to balance the demands of users looking for free, entertaining, professional content on the web, premium content owners looking for ways to monetize their content and advertisers looking for more premium content for them to showcase their TV creative against."
If the new ads work, the increased revenue opportunity may help YouTube seal more content deals for professionally made films and TV. YouTube was working on a content deal with Sony in April 2009.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
YouTube Tests Pre-roll Video Ads
