As we all know, advertising has been a tough nut for YouTube to crack. While a lot of videos feature overlaid ads at the bottom, some have been testing in-stream video ads that run before, during and after videos. Today, YouTube is starting to test a new way for users to interact with those ads.
On a “small percentage of videos,” you will now have the option of watching one “Promoted Video” (a video someone is paying for YouTube to promote, so yes, an ad) at the beginning of the clip, or choose to see a few different in-stream ads throughout the clip. And if you choose the one long clip beforehand, you will get to choose which clip you watch. Unfortunately, “none” is not an option.
Joking aside, this is sort of an interesting way to do advertising. I can’t imagine that many people will have the preference to watch one pre-roll ad over another, but the option to do either a pre-roll or mid-stream ad is a nice one. Hulu has been testing a similar option, though I have yet to see it. I would definitely opt to sit through a long ad before a show or movie plays rather than having the interruptions throughout.
Of course, as we all know, most people would choose this pre-roll option and proceed to completely ignore the ad, so it will be interesting to see if YouTube sees that happen as well with this option. It seems smart that YouTube is including the pre-roll video ratings when you’re making your selection of which one to watch, so perhaps a high rating will entice some to watch it. And at least these promoted videos aren’t always just straight-up ads, and instead are sometimes people who really, really want their videos to go viral and are willing to pay for it.
There are certainly ads on Hulu that I find more annoying than the others, though I’m not sure it would be worth the hassle of choosing.
The funny thing is if you make someone select an ad, even the ads that aren’t chosen get an impression in the most basic sense of the term. =)
I remember seeing Hulu videos that did give this option, which I appreciated. But they no longer do?
Hulu does have the option to watch a longer pre-roll rather than ads throughout the program. It isn’t always a choice but it’s offered reasonably often (~15% of the time).
Yep, see that, updating. Thanks!
I remember watching shows on Hulu after watching a movie trailor. But I didn’t see them recently may be they got rid of them.
I love this. As a video fan and creator, I’ve never liked the overlays, because they obscure the director’s work and are completely distracting. They’re rude interruptions, and not very good marketing. Who stops watching a video and clicks away because a pet food ad covers it? If anything, overlays created resentment toward the advertiser.
I do like some ads — great commercials can be funnier than most SNL skits. The problem has always been ads that are irrelevant to the viewer, which is the case with most pharmaceutical ads. Yes, give the viewers a choice which ad they want to watch! I consider it a fair exchange for the free content.
Actually I think this is the future of advertising. You can’t imagine while watching TV for example (non-dvr’ed) I would want to choose to watch funny beer commercials as opposed to feminine hygiene ads? You bet your a$$ I would. This is one of the fundamental problems in the ad world, and the concept of user-chosen ads (at least on some level of categorization) is the future. Search works that way now of course in a much more granular way.
+1!
More funny beer commercials!
So they’re going to start interrupting the video with an ad; is this a textual ad, or a complete video interruption?
aw, who cares. after all, this is the future of advertising! the degree to which it resembles the past of advertising is purely coincidental.
Well, I have no doubt that they might be on to something. If people could choose the products/services they’re interested in, and then just see ads relative to that selection, I think it would be much more productive for everyone.
However, I was hoping that the journalist who covered this story would have more knowledge about it. Oh well.
It blows my mind how stupid companies are when it comes to advertising. When I watch a Youtube video and I see that pop up it annoys the heck out of me.. there is no way in heck I will ever click on it. The same feeling comes when I go to si.com and see a popup. I want to take my computer and throw it at these people who make these ads.. I actually boycott companies that annoy me with advertising…
Why not have a simple area below the video that links to a useful site, or a product showing in the video, or a movie. Wait that would mean google would have to care where there links go to and since half the money they make is off crappy sites… which is why adsense sucks… when is someone going to create an ad system that only shows good links.. not crap?
that’ll never happen, as long as people are paying money to show ads, then money is always king, quality last
It is more profitable over a short period but bad websites hurt interface trust.. causes people not to click… 1 click at 50 cents is less that 4 at 20 cents.. the long tail.. hope I am using that right needs to be looked at more.. there are no good ad interfaces anymore..
This is great. I use the pre-roll usually on Hulu. If it interests me, I’ll watch it. If not, I’ll just glance at my feeds while waiting for the video, and then I have the rest of my video un-interrupted.
I’ve also seen the Sprint and Grey Goose “choose your adventures” on Hulu before, which will choose the type of in-stream ads you see.
those ads really does piss me off. such a bs way to make a buck
I remember too seeing Hulu videos that did give this option
i agree that ads before or after a video stream are the wrong way to go – they should put the link underneath the video, simple & i think people are more inclined to click the link as it’s less intrusive, i always close the links off on youtube video
Maybe Google shout set up a classified on Craigslist:
“Desperately seeking business model”
If advertisers actually offer something along with the ad giving viewer real incentive to watch the ad, then people will selectively choose that based on their interests.
In addition, advertisers will see a higher roi and of course content creators should in theory see a bump in the amount of revenue share they get from better click through rates.
Hopefully Google will share in this as well.
We watch much of our tv at home via Hulu these days. The idea that people won’t sit through the longer ad at the beginning (will choose but ignore) is valid (many times I’ve gotten up to make popcorn or something), but I’ve also sat through the long ad, since it’s usually not *that* long. It’s less trouble to watch it. By contrast, the ads that interrupt the program may actual damage the brand, because at least at this early stage in the evolution of this, they tend to show the same ad over and over again. So even given an ad that’s very cool or funny (the Intel engineer as rockstar ad, for example), you still hate it by the time you’ve seen it four times in 20 minutes… Now if the ad were for the same company all the way through, but was presented in four different segments so as to continue one narrative thread, that would be really engaging…
Pop up ads do nothing but irritate. Adverts that cover the part of a video are the worst of all. If people click on them, it’s only because they are trying to get rid of them.
I hope everyone joins me in boycotting any product or company that uses pop ups to advertise.