YouTube is in many ways online video personified. When you search online you Google something, and when you want to watch a video online you YouTube it. But that’s not quite enough for YouTube.
Online Video Leader
is by far the most popular and highest trafficked online video site in the world. It dominates the field, gaining more video views per month than most other sites put together. However, this popularity hasn’t proved profitable for YouTube’s owner Google as of yet.
Which has meant much of the site’s behind the scenes attentions have been focused on improving the bottom line. Therefore, new forms of advertising, new deals with content creators and copyright owners, and new ways of turning video views into revenue have been coming in regular doses over the past year.
Video Views Per User
But while that effort continues, upping the number of video views, especially in terms of the number of videos viewed by each user, is also being addressed. According to the Wall Street Journal, YouTube is now pushing out initiatives intended to increase its dominance of the online video sector.
Currently, if you watch a particular video you will be have around a dozen other videos recommended for you to watch immediately afterwards. But now, using a prediction of what content will pique a user’s interest via their usual viewing habits, YouTube is trying to increase the number of video views per user.
Manufacturing Spontaneity
Despite the 100 million or so U.S. YouTube users averaging an impressive 68 videos every month, a team of engineers is focused on upping that average. Hunter Walk, a director of product management at YouTube and the man heading these initiatives, explained using Van Halen as an example, saying:
“At some point you don’t want to see any more Van Halen videos. You get Van Halen fatigue.”
“[So we’re using a process called] manufacturing spontaneity [which uses the] serendipity of YouTube [by giving a] selection of videos you didn’t intend to see but are very compatible. I didn’t come here to watch this. But somehow I find myself watching 10 videos about topic blah.”
Revenue Still The Aim
Of course, YouTube isn’t doing this for nothing. At the end of the day more video views equals more advertising views and therefore more revenue. And it always comes back to the bottom line for Google, which paid $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube with the hopes of seeing a return in the years to come.
I already find I click on more than just the video I originally visited YouTube for, so this will probably just make that more likely. Which is the ultimate idea. It’ll likely cement YouTube’s position as the top ranking online video site, but whether that’ll result in revenue dollars increasing isn’t guaranteed.
