The world is going mobile in a very big way. And as people start using smartphones and the new breed of tablet computers to browse the Web, so video sites have to adapt. And so, therefore, does the advertising on video sites.
YouTube Mobile
YouTube’s mobile site is a version of the online video leader built especially for mobile phone users. It isn’t the same as the specially-created YouTube interfaces on iPhone and Android, although users of these two platforms can visit the mobile site at m.youtube.com.
The YouTube mobile site is surprisingly popular, boasting “millions of people all over the world … streaming tens of millions of videos every day.” That isn’t even close to the main YouTube Web site, which now boasts over one billion videos viewed every day.
However, with growth quoted as “over 160% in 2009,” and that likely to rise even higher in 2010, Google is keen to wring every drop of revenue possible out of YouTube as it endeavors to make a profit from the site.
Mobile Advertising
Google today announced it was rolling out advertising on the YouTube mobile site. At least in the U.S. and Japan. The decision follows a trial last summer which was successful in terms of “click-throughs, user experience, and brand awareness.”
Banner ads will now appear on the Home, Search, and Browse pages, but none will yet appear on the actual videos.
Google has been filling the full-fledged YouTube Web site with ads, including overlays and pre-rolls on the videos themselves. But the lack of Flash on handsets and the range of different standards throughout the industry means they aren’t yet available on the mobile site. Google is planning to introduce overlay and pre-rolls in the future though.
Conclusions
With big name advertisers including Sony, Kia, Land Rover, and L’Oreal having already bitten the YouTube mobile advertising bullet, the future looks positive. It seems most advertisers will now want to be present on the mobile site as well as the main Web site.
Which can only aid Google’s effort to turn YouTube from being the online video standard to the ‘profitable’ online video standard. How close it is to managing that is open to interpretation.
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