Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 10:35 PM PT

 

YouTube Rolls Out Post-Roll Video Ads

YouTube, which has never had trouble growing an audience but hasn’t yet figured out the trick for monetizing them thar eyeballs, is adding a trick from the old playbook: post-roll advertisements. As we understand it (and this has been confirmed with the company), if you don’t click on an overlay ad when it shows up in a clip you’re watching, the video ad it would have played rolls automatically at the end of your video. Previously a post-roll video wouldn’t play without being initiated by the user. This type of ad started rolling out over the last few weeks.

The post-rolls, like all ads on YouTube, only play on a portion of the 4 percent or so of the site’s videos uploaded by official partners with revenue-sharing agreements. The included screenshots show two instances of ads for Sanctuary, the web series picked up by Sci-Fi.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that YouTube was considering including pre- and post-roll ads as one potential way to boost ad revenue. The fact that this type of ad plays automatically makes it much more likely that viewers will watch it.

Pre-rolls, however, are the far more intrusive of the two, because by definition a user has to finish watching such an ad before proceeding to the video he or she has already chosen to watch. But even post-roll ads are a significant reversal for Google-owned YouTube. When the site initially announced its in-video overlay ads last year, it justified the somewhat unconventional ad formats by saying 75 percent of its users who saw tests of pre- and post-roll ads were unhappy with them.

Just this summer Google CEO Eric Schmidt touted the effectiveness of embedded ads versus pre- and post-rolls. And earlier in the year he promised forthcoming ad products that would be “much more participative, much more creative, much more — much more interesting in and of themselves” than in-line ads. Since then, new products have included ad formats like a full-screen HD movie trailer and publisher tools like “Hot Spots,” which shows which parts of a video viewers are most interested in. That is to say, very few socks were blown off.

So for now, at least, the next big thing is hardly new.

Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the feed

Sphere
Topic: Hitlines, Money & Power

Comments (12)

  • What are they thinking? (or not thinking). The problem with post rolls is not that they don’t automatically play, it’s that the user is done watching the video! They don’t sit through the “commercials” at the end.

    I would have expected Google to do something more innovative, similar to what Videoegg.com did. what happened?

    -Robb
    http://www.retrevo.com

    Robb Lewis — 12:10 AM on October 2, 2008 Reply

  • Ya I wouldn’t think post roll ads could keep a viewers attention. YouTube visitors aren’t exactly a captive audience…mind you if you make the ads really engaging, which you’d have to, that might work.

    I think the embedded approach like at http://overlay.tv would be more effective.

    Andre Charland — 10:26 AM on October 2, 2008 Reply

  • Youtube lacks flash technology on their player. Flash allows for so many better features. We pre-roll ads on our LIVE and produced videos and can also imbed sponsorship logos and clickable links in the actual live videos. We have some awesome content and opt-in thriving demographic if anyone is interested in advertising on a video based website: http://www.baroptic.com

    If so, contact me: Josh@BarOptic.com

    Josh Adams — 11:09 AM on October 2, 2008 Reply

  • Sounds like a good idea and could be a big hit if it becomes possible to target videos accurately. E.g., if you’re a watching a video clip from a Palin/Couric interview, it’d be great to have an Obama ad at the end – most will hang on to see the ad.

    Sekhar Ravinutala — 12:59 PM on October 2, 2008 Reply

  • People are getting used to pre-rolls now. The problem for Youtube is that – despite these ads only going on the partner content – it has the stigma of UGC, which people are less willing to have advertising around

    Simon — 2:41 PM on October 2, 2008 Reply

  • every video embedded in my Pro-Boards bulletin board has now appeared with post-roll adverts. Who is making the money – Google or Pro-Boards. Sucks if one is thinking of having the pro-boards ad removed, and the ubiquitous Google Ad-words can’t be!

    paul whitman — 11:40 PM on December 8, 2008 Reply

  • YouTube has a lot of competition now and other sites are doing much better, specially quality wise.

    This is a great place to post videos and you can actually get something in return!

    http://www.mavric.tv .

    It has over a dozen channels and currently about 300 videos, and growing!

    If you upload just 5 videos you get an entry to win a lottery for a brand new Seagate Free Agent GO drive, beats buying it for $199 US. Other things you can win are a Lottery for any product on Logitech.com ($200 US value), a $50 Itunes gift card or even 1 year of mavric media digital content database premium account for free (normailly costs $1100 US). More entries, more chances.

    You guys should try it out.

    MavricTv — 1:55 AM on December 19, 2008 Reply

  • The big picture: its not about how to get more money from the viewer (forced to view ad) its about getting and keeping more viewers, then ads that are selected by the viewer will produce.

    john — 11:10 AM on January 1, 2009 Reply

  • International Diesel Ltd Remanufactures a complete line of diesel and gas engines including GM, ford, Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit,Isuzu , GM 6.5, 6.2L , 6.6 Duramax, International, and Perkins We offer both immediate exchange and custom remanufacturing programs designed to minimize your downtime. Every year, International Diesel Ltd remanufactures over 5,500 diesel and gas engines of all sizes and makes, from on-highway to off-road and industrial and marine. http://WWW.65ENGINEPARTS.COM 1-631-737-7050

    6.5 diesel engines — 2:44 PM on April 18, 2009 Reply

  • I think the embedded approach like at http://wefree.tv would be more effective.

    watch movie

    johnashleys — 4:08 PM on September 10, 2009 Reply

  • would like this to be view need some hites

    Josh — 5:53 PM on September 18, 2009 Reply

  • Our company has many years of specializing in the sale of parrots and accessories, we have gained tremendous experience in this field and have established close relationships with many suppliers.
    We have presented a huge selection of variety and quality of parrots and their accessories at the lowest prices.
    You can order right now and the courier will deliver your order as soon as possible.

    Davaivs Tretim Sya — 4:37 AM on October 26, 2009 Reply

Linkbacks (23)

Subscribe to comments feed

Leave a Reply

Sign up for our daily email: