Today in the Official Google Mobile Blog, Google laid it all on the line:
“You may have noticed that we started running a test of display ads on select pages of the YouTube mobile site in the U.S. and Japan. This is our first step in testing mobile advertising for YouTube,” Christine Tsai, a YouTube product marketing manager, said on Google’s mobile blog on Monday.
Google’s YouTube Internet video site has started attracting advertising from media companies including CBS and video-game maker Electronic Arts, the New York Times reported.
The test “will give YouTube viewers a new way to interact with content on the go, while allowing us to learn how video viewers engage with mobile advertising. Our test advertisers will also have an additional branding tool at their disposal and the opportunity to reach the millions of people who visit YouTube every day on their phones,” Tsai said.
The company has been developing a mobile interface over the last year, and now says in a blog post that “people watch hundreds of millions of YouTube videos every month on mobile devices.”
YouTube started opening up access to its mobile version early this year, when it broadened its mobile service to include most of its video library and upload capabilities to a majority of mobile devices with streaming ability and 3G accesses.
At YouTube, we are constantly testing new ways to deliver the kinds of ads that contribute to the user experience while making the most sense for advertisers, and we have learned a lot about what works for YouTube and what does not. We are excited to explore new approaches to mobile advertising, and will evaluate this test closely over the next several weeks to make sure we provide our community, our partners and advertisers with the most valuable and effective mobile experience possible.
The ads, which appear on only a small portion of the millions of videos available on YouTube, may mark the start of improved relations between Google and copyright owners who had complained about unauthorized posting of their content on the site, the newspaper said.
A new Google system called Video ID lets media companies claim videos that were posted without authorization and start displaying advertisements alongside them, the newspaper said.
A top Google priority is finding a good advertising model for YouTube, and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has said finding the right form of advertising on YouTube is the “holy grail.”
Ninety per cent of copyright claims made using the system are converted into advertising opportunities, the newspaper said, citing YouTube product manager David King.
This is clearly aimed at a much smaller yet growing portion of the YouTube market, as the number of handsets that can use YouTube mobile pale in comparison to the number of PCs that connect every day.
This is the next step in a series of attempts by Google to find the “right fit” for YouTube advertising, pairing the needs to make it spin a profit with the desire of YouTube viewers and content creators to avoid feeling overwhelmed by ads.
In January, YouTube opened its entire catalogue to YouTube mobile. Users could sign into the video site with their handheld devices to rate, share, and comment on videos. The company also launched a beta version of a YouTube for mobile Java application.