YouTube does U-turn, plans to intro pre-roll ads
After trying to monetize the video site with a variety of new-style ad programs, Google may be caving in and giving the green light to good, old-fashioned pre- and post-roll advertising on YouTube.
by Helen Leggatt, BizReport
“It appears that buzz targeting, demographic targeting, AdSense for Video, geo-targeting and even revenue share couldn’t bring in enough ad revenue to keep pre- and post-roll advertising from YouTube’s door.
Things really must be tough if recent reports are true that the online video site is to adopt an advertising format that, according to its own survey, most of its audience dislikes. [...]
It will be interesting to see whether this move will see a backlash from YouTube users or perhaps a migration to other online video sites.”
[Also read: "Hulu is kicking Youtube's Ass" from Marc Cuban, Jun 16th 2008 8:30PM]
The holy trinity of traffic, conversion and repeat visitation demands your attention on:
Benjamin Wayne on the “Power of Online Video” (Chief Marketer):
[...] Take Big Plush, for example. The retailer—which makes giant stuffed animals such as seven-foot teddy bears and six-foot gorillas—has a unique market niche. They wanted a way to communicate not just the product, but also the reaction of new toy owners to their giant fuzzy friends. To do this, they built out an entire video “vault” complete with clips of the production process and the reactions of astonished recipients of their oversized toys. [...] The result was dramatically increased sales and pass-along, with visitors sharing videos and enticing new customers to experience the product and the brand.
[Nobody said we appreciate the style - but we do appreciate the essence of the concept.]
Location, Location, Location
There are three places publishers need to think about getting their video assets—the site itself, search engine placement and viral propagation.
Within your site itself, consider the home page, galleries and calls to action. Video on the home page will attract clicks from more than half your users, and can be a great tool to draw visitors deeper into the site. Consider including videos that are instructional in nature, or include a message from the company to introduce a new visitor to the business. [...]
[...] Most publishers understand the importance of SEO, but few realize search crawlers are incapable of reading Flash tags, meaning that despite the fact search engines now feature videos in their results, most videos fail to appear. In order to take advantage of SEO opportunities in video, publishers need to submit their video assets via MRSS, a service provided by many video-hosting providers. Since the pool of videos currently indexed is small, this is an opportunity all should explore.
And don’t neglect viral propagation. [...] Viral reposting of video puts your brand, your watermark, your video and a link to your site into locations, blogs, wikis and forums you could never reach on your own. Some publishers see over 50% of their video viewership through viral propagation.
Implementing a video strategy doesn’t have to mean big bucks. Today’s Web visitors are looking for clips that help them understand a product or service, not a lengthy infomercial or short film. [...]
Posted by johnsonlab 
Posted by johnsonlab 
