Google- Finally Starts to Monetize YouTube and More
When Google purchased YouTube for $1.65B a few years ago there was in expectation that the site would be a money maker, not just a magnetic for video traffickers. Of course Google did not expect the troubled economy that we live in today nor that Viacom to file a $1B lawsuit for copyright infringement. Google’s new offering will allow YouTube users to purchase digital goods from Apple’s iTunes or Amazon.
AdSense for Games
Google also announced beta software called AdSense for Games which allows video, image or text ads to be placed at the start, end, or change of level for online games.
It’s About Advertising
Notwithstanding these complex economic times, recent estimates of global online advertising revenue are an astonishing $81.1B by 2011, and Google is obviously one of the greatest movers. Since the estimates of revenue from YouTube are a measly $200M for 2009, Google’s new sale of digital goods should significantly increase Google hope to generate $27B which they estimate. It’s also hard to image that Google’s 10th birthday will be in November and it is one of the richest companies in the world. In the meantime the US government doesn’t know what to do about Google proposed advertising partnership Yahoo! so that deal is now on hold. We all need to stay tuned, but be assured Google will generate more data about visitors to their kingdom which clearly translates into ad revenue.
To make money with YouTube, this is what Google has to do...
On the most viewed clips (clips with, let say, already 1000 views) (doesn't matter who posted them) YouTube automatically implements a 5 seconds overlay ad that appears over the player and blocks out (darkens) everything else. (It gives a bit of time for the clip to load in the background as well).
This overlay is a 5 seconds spot (can't be longer than that and it doesn't link to a company website if you click on it. It's like a really, really short TV spot. It can be a still picture for outfits with very little budgets...)
Now, people don't like ads... but they like GAMES and they like to COLLECT stuff.
Each overlay ad is a mini 5 seconds GAME. You have three colored dots on the overlay. The viewer clicks on ONE of them. One is a winner, two are duds. If you're lucky to pick the winner (you only have one chance) during the 5 secs, you receive a TOKEN that is automatically added to your YouTube account. (It encourages you to stay registered...)
Now, you COLLECT these tokens. If you win a certain number of similar tokens, you can EXCHANGE them against full-length HD Hollywood Films or TV shows on YouTube. The fun part could be that you have different categorires of tokens. (Some would be for specific film genres or just for one TV show and some could be really hard to find, worth maybe ten tokens, etc.) (Tokens are generated randomly by the system.)
Now, you have the problem of guys posting shows and seeing Google make money off their film. Well, they need to be rewarded too. For a succesful posting (ie lots of viewers) they also receive TOKENS... to be exchanged to watch high-quality HD movies or TV shows.
Now, these HD movies or TV shows in the "HD Theatre section of YouTube" can also be sponsored with a longer lead-in spot... That's even more money for Google.
Now, we have the problem of big brand names not wanting to have their spots stuck on "Jimmy and his weird cat"... Well, they could "control" where their 5 Secs. spots go by teaming with content suppliers through YouTube. Example, a Coca-Cola campaign with Viacom clips... Viacom takes all the succesful shows they own like, for example, "Spongebob". They cut out little "gems" (two to three minute clips) and they post them on YouTube to watch for free... Viacom via Google sell their 5 second spots to Coca-cola. Everybody is happy. The viewer, who enjoys these mini-clips, can even link to the full episode of Spongebob on YouTube. He can pay by redeeming TOKENS or he can pay with real money for the full episode or combine both. (It's all streaming anyway! It's like TV a la carte.)
Now, what about the "Jim and his weird cat" clips. Who pays for these 5 secs ads? Well, it's like Google's Adsense, it's small outfits who purchase so many spots. You can buy a thousand spots or ten thousand spots to be randomly placed on clips or based on the clip's TAGS and on the clip's level of viewership. The outfit supplies the spot or the still and pays Google directly up front.
A system like this is not that difficult to implement. (If they're real smart, they can have it work just the same on imbedded videos on other sites) Anyway, it's fun for all involved and all get something out of it. Everybody is a winner especially Google who makes tons of money from the big guys but also... most importantly...from the long, long tail of all the little guys. Viewers are hooked to YouTube forever! Even if they're just there to click on ads and forget about the clips... the most important is done. Money!
Here, you have it.
Twowan,
(If Google wants more ideas like this one, they can contact me. I'm the guy behind laboratoryfilms.com)