YouTube Want Your Advertising
Over the past couple of years, high-speed Internet conductivity has continued to grow. According to a report by Nielsen, more than 67% of Internet households in the US have high-speed Internet access allowing them to access all of the internet’s capabilities. As access grows, so do the number of people who watch videos online. The popular video-sharing Web site, YouTube, receives over 100 million visitors per month quickly making it one of the most popular media outlets available. As the site continues its rise in popularity, the company is making changes to its content structure in order to help drive more advertising revenue.
On April 16, expect to see a completely different YouTube as they restructure their video content into categories that separates user-generated content from professional content. YouTube, in hopes of driving more advertising revenue, will be replacing its current tab structure of “Videos, Channels, and Community” with “Movies, Music, Shows, and Videos”. The first three tabs will feature content from Google’s (YouTube’s parent company) partners including Disney and CBS, while the “Video” tab will house all user-generated and amature content.
While the change in content structure will affect how viewers find videos, YouTube is also planning to make alterations to their viewing experience. The changes will be sure to grab viewer’s attention as YouTube will start to place advertisements before and during all of their professionally-provided videos. Sound familiar to another Web site?
In order to turn profits and capitalize on their Internet audience, YouTube has decided to redesign their video-displaying experience to match that of Hulu’s, another popular video-sharing Web site. Hulu, while receiving less traffic than YouTube, (only 34.5 million visitors) has a more profitable advertising model. So profitable that it has caused the largest video site to copy it. YouTube’s new video player will show markers where ads are schedule to play and viewers will be able to control the brightness of the screen just like Hulu’s video experience. As more consumers watch videos online, the video-sharing Web sites are going to look for ways to increase revenue. But what does this mean for advertisers?
Well, contradictory to what some experts think, video advertisements are going to continue to grow in popularity. The 30-second spot might be becoming less popular on television; however, rising in popularity is the 15-second online video advertisement. Some agencies might see their production value decrease as they produce more web-friendly videos and less HD commercials; however, expect HD video to take over the Internet as fast as it did for cable. Other might see an increase in production costs as they now create more videos. Agencies are no longer developing commercials for television alone, now they have to think how these ads will translate online. When it comes to developing campaigns for clients the agencies who are thinking about using an integrated mix of mediums are the ones who will fully utilize their video advertisements.
Once YouTube starts to implement video advertisements, two of the largest video-sharing Web sites will feature commercials. A true testament to the fact of no matter where people congregate advertisers will find a way to get their messages in front of their client target audience. It’s true! If enough people started spelunking (cave diving), I would not think it would be outlandish for a company like Maglite to place a billboard halfway down a cave. Where people are advertisers are; there is no escaping it!
Tags: Advertising, Online advertising, youtube
