It looks like Google has began testing “viewer friendly” ads in YouTube videos. According to CNET:
Google is finally rolling out an advertising format for YouTube that could succeed where many others have failed: it’s not annoying.
Google’s YouTube will feature ads that are similar to a model used by TV broadcasters for years, the company said Tuesday. TV viewers have grown accustomed to watching a show and seeing the image of David Letterman or some other star walk across the bottom of the screen as part of a promotion. YouTube’s new ads are very similar.
YouTube’s mini commercials, which are produced through Flash animation, appear at the bottom of a video, are mostly transparent and disappear after 10 seconds. Once the ad appears, a user has the option of clicking on it while the video pauses. The viewer is then taken to a “player within the player” where he or she is encouraged to interact with the advertiser’s content. When they click out of the ad, the video resumes.
Er, not annoying? I’m not really convinced that it’s much better than the pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads that are currently being used in online video advertising. But, it certainly sounds like a fresh way to advertise in video content.
I’m not sure about you, but I haven’t really seen these ads in action yet. But, this guy captured it on video and shared it on YouTube:
So, what do you think? I wonder if these video ads will be available to all YouTube users? And, would you run those ads in your YouTube videos if you were given the opportunity? And, will Google Adsense be coming up soon?
Technorati Tags: ads in videos, google, google ads, videos, youtube
Hi Shai,
I remembered about this post you had about You Tube and Google. Well its finally here for Adsense users. I posted about it over at my blog, but I didn’t have that much info to go off of. Have you gotten to play around with it?