YouTube’s Promoted Videos – the video ads that often appear to the right of the currently playing video in YouTube and next to search results – are now coming to regular websites as well. Starting today, Promoted Videos will appear in AdSense units through the Google Content Network and will compete with text and image ads in AdSense’s ad auctions. Interestingly, AdSense already offers video ads, though it classifies them as ‘image ads.’ These two video ad units will now run side by side.
The YouTube Promoted Video ad units consist of a thumbnail on the left and three lines of text on the right. Clicking on one of these ads will take users to the YouTube page or channel with the video. Any user can promote ads on YouTube for just a few dollars a day, though most of the promotions on the site are run by larger organizations.
For the time being, these ads are only available in the U.S. and in English, though Google plans to launch them in other regions and languages as well.
Google has obviously struggled to turn YouTube into a profitable business unit. Taking YouTube ads out of the YouTube silo could help Google to win over more advertisers and give current advertisers more reasons to buy ads on YouTube.
