YouTube unveils video overlay ads
Cory Bergman August 21st, 2007
Finally, in a long-anticipated move, YouTube is debuting its solution to video ads — and no, they’re not pre-rolls. The new ads are semi-transparent overlays that cover the bottom fifth of the screen and then disappear after 10 seconds. If you click it, a video ad will play in the same player, only a slightly smaller size. At the end of the ad — or when you click the close icon — the original clip will resume playing. So far, the ads only apply to partner videos (and as of this writing, only a handful of them), and they’re selling for $20 CPMs. Take it for a test drive with the clip here (notice the yellow marker in the timeline when you play the clip). Also, the ads do not play on embedded clips — just when you play them on YouTube. Smart.
11 Comments Add your own
1. discreet_chaos | August 21st, 2007 at 10:52 pm
The whole stopping-the-video-that-you’re-watching thing is going to result in much fewer clicks. It seems they could just as easily append the commercial to the end, especially since YouTubes can’t be very long, anyhow.
2. Tom | August 22nd, 2007 at 6:33 am
I notice this a few months ago. Back in the begining of summer I saw ads for Evan Almighty
3. Mike | August 22nd, 2007 at 6:34 am
I got no ads when I watched.
4. Swift Loris | August 22nd, 2007 at 6:56 am
Boy, I might not even have noticed the ad if I hadn’t been expecting it. I noticed it when it first came on and then almost instantly forgot it was there. If they’re all that inconspicuous, it’s a minuscule price to pay.
5. Dave | August 22nd, 2007 at 7:48 am
They were testing this over the summer. I saw it for Evan Almighty as well.
It’s essentially an interactive version of TV snipes… TV primarily uses them for promos though.
Yourlatv has this and I know of another site that will be using this… when it launches.
6. Joe | August 22nd, 2007 at 8:45 am
And your GM will want to start doing this when he sees it on YouTube as he’s looking over his 13-year-old kid’s shoulder when he’s struggling to figure this whole web thing out.
7. Felix | August 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
very discreet - I like it. Similar in functionality to a text ad on a web page, which was probably the intention.
I agree that adding post-roll ads seems like a no-brainer. Users would not object since they have already seen the content and can navigate away from the ad at anytime, similar to a TV ad.
8. Safran | August 22nd, 2007 at 11:09 am
Pay attention everyone: pre-rolls are dying. This is one aspect of how they will be replaced.
The less intrusive you are with the audience, the more they will respect the organization.
The more targeted the ads can be, the better value it will be for the advertiser.
We don’t hate ads - we hate clutter.
Pre-roll CPM-sold video ads are clutter.
9. invitedmedia | August 22nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
agreed, but i’ve argued the post-roll is a no brainer. i can say from personal experience that i rarely have my finger on the “clicka” the second the clip ends. get your message in the first 5 seconds and it’ll make an impression, i might even let it run if I CHOOSE.
nielsen has counted tv’s running in the background for how long?
and why more oultets don’t scroll clips like cnettv does is beyond me.
10. jeremiah | August 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Can users opt-out? Personally speaking, I don’t want my videos overlayed with GOP propaganda or pitches for …. god knows what else.
It will only take a few cases of MASSIVELY inappropriate mashups of ads-over-content to challenge this model. Imagine ads for “To Catch a Predator” floating over video of someone’s kids playing in their backyard. Or how about Levitra, which makes an instant dick-joke from anything it’s remotely associated with?
Will the MPAA buy ads to play over the bazillion uploads of South Park and Naruto?
11. FthnQiNTM | April 18th, 2008 at 1:11 am
fo033.txt;2;5
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