It was bound to happen! YouTube wants to find a way to make significant amounts of money from their video sharing site. Following the model of Google, YouTube is attempting to generate revenue from advertising dollars while simultaneously keeping the YouTube users’ attention by making the ads seamlessly integrate into the already established YouTube system with the use of a technique called InVideo overlays. This will prove to be difficult. Sashi Seth, YouTube Group Product Manager said, “…our users are not shy about telling us what they like and what they don’t like, so it behooves us to be careful.” Wednesday, August 22, 2007, is when this initiative began. By August 24, YouTube had received 669 comments from users expressing their distaste for the ads.
The ad is embedded into the YouTube video that the user is watching and takes up approximately 20% of the viewing window. The amount of space that the ad takes up in an already small window seems to be the main complaint of users that call the ad nothing more than a distraction.
“YouTube plans to continue on with InVideo overlays, and hopes ‘to make the ads an important part of the advertising model for online video,’ said Aaron Zamost, from Google corporate communications.”
Commentary:
As technology advances so does business. Companies today have the task of ensuring that they are connected with the consumer any way possible. YouTube’s InVideo overlays are a prime example. Companies see a high volume of consumers utilizing YouTube and would love nothing more than to gain another avenue to grasp the potential consumer’s attention and motivate them to buy more. I commend YouTube for realizing the need of big businesses and coming up with a creative method to give them what they want while still making their users’ desires a priority for their success.
