San Francisco — In a battle for snapping more online advertising dollars, Google-owned video sharing site YouTube has been expanding on a program that allows viewers to click on ads related to content they are watching, YouTube’s “click-to-buy” ad program that can is now operational in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
The technology blog TechCrunch quoting unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that at YouTube expecting Google to expand the “click-to-buy” program that empowers media companies to sell advertising for their video content that is being displayed on YouTube. The program is expected to be expanded by the end of the first quarter.
The program introduced in October 2008 for the US and United Kingdom. It enabled music labels to make money on their content, as well as pirated material, by providing links where users can buy songs featured in music videos on YouTube, for example.
Among the YouTube click-to-buy partners are Amazon and Apple, Inc.’s iTunes Store, EMI and Electronic Arts. YouTube said its click-to-buy program boosted sales of Monty Python DVDs 23,000 percent on Amazon. YouTube’s goal is to create additional revenue.
“The past few months have confirmed that great content on YouTube leads to increased sales,” YouTube said on its corporate blog. “For example, when Monty Python launched their channel in November, not only did their YouTube videos shoot to the top of the most viewed lists, but their DVDs also quickly climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.”
YouTube has had a long controversial relationship with big media companies. Some, like Viacom, have even sued the company for permitting people to post copyrighted content. But if the report from TechCrunch is accurate, Google is offering an olive branch to big media. And the deal will likely benefit both YouTube and big media companies.
YouTube also said it would experiment with how links are displayed.
Content providers engaged in the offering may add click-to-buy links through ContentID, which identifies YouTube videos containing pirated material. From there, rightful copyright-holders can opt to block the video — or monetize it.
Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said YouTube’s decision to expand click-to-buy suggests one of three things: The Company has seen promise in the concept, it is already driving revenues, or it holds promise for the future. “Whatever the combination of reasons for expanding click-to-buy,” Sterling said, “the trend is positive.”
And surprisingly enough, the latest comScore research noted that YouTube accounted for 98 percent of videos viewed at the top-ranked Google sites, where the average viewer streamed 54.7 videos in July.