Google has finally decided to implement advertising embedded in YouTube clips.
A lot of the conversation seems to be circling around whether or not this will have a negative impact on the site’s audience. My vote is a clear no: banner ads along the bottom of video is on TV all the time now (seen TBS lately?) and will only increase in frequency and popularity as more people decide to skip the traditional commercials with their DVR or Tivo boxes.
What I want to mention is that the fee will be $20 per 1,000 impressions. Now that sounds pretty steep to me, considering there is no indication how accurately the ads will be matched to relevant content. Yet, Google assures that advertisers will be able to indicate ”specific channels and genres, as well as demographic profiles, geography and hour of the day.” Just as AdWords was tweaked over time, I am sure this will follow the same path.
It will be interesting to see how this targeting process gets evolved over the course of time because at $20 per 1,000 impressions at the introductory phase, I’m not sold.
