INTERNET MARKETING

Google (GOOG) announced yesterday that they are going to launch a massive update for advertisers on YouTube. These changes will apply to how marketers display their video advertisements on the network. Unlike the prior model of YouTube advertising, which displayed random videos to individuals, the new platform is keyword based and integrated into Google AdWords. This will enable advertisers to refine the audience that their ads are presented to. With over 800 million monthly visitors on the site, there is plenty of money to be made by the search giant (which is already making over $30 billion from YouTube social media marketing alone).

So what can we expect from these changes? Well, depending on how effective it is, this brings a whole new audience to the advertisement market and could be a significant game-changer. However, it needs to be noted that creating effective, good quality video advertisements is no easy task and can be quite costly. Google is giving away $50 million in free Google AdWords advertising to help more than 500,000 businesses get into the video advertising game. In order to request your free credit you can click here.

The following is what YouTube had to say about the changes on their blog:

“Google AdWords for video is now available to all. Similar to search advertising – where you pay for clicks and set budgets with bids – Google has created a new model for video advertising. With Google AdWords for video, you only pay when someone chooses to watch your ad and you can create and manage video campaigns from the same platform as your search and display ads. You can create an account and start promoting your first video in less than 5 minutes.

With AdWords for video you can:

• Find the right audience: AdWords for video provides a range of options to reach the right audience. For example, you can promote your video by keyword to appear in YouTube search results, or you can choose to show your ad against content your customers are most interested in – such as sports or music. Connect with your audience on YouTube and the Google Display Network, which includes millions of websites. AdWords for video links to your YouTube account so you can easily start a video campaign with your existing videos.
• Measure the effectiveness of your spend: On average, we’ve found that YouTube video ads drive a 20 percent increase in traffic to your website and a 5 percent increase in searches for your business (Google Campaign Insights, 2011). With AdWords for video you can find out how viewers are engaging with your brand during and after they watch your ad. You can see how many viewers watched your entire video, visited your website, stayed on your channel to watch another video, or subscribed to your channel, after viewing your ad.
• Only pay for engaged views: With TrueView video ads you only pay when viewers choose to watch your ad so you aren’t charged when viewers skip your ad if they aren’t interested or have already seen your video. This means your ad budget is focused on viewers interested in your video. By displaying a call-to-action overlay on your video you can talk about a sale or specific offer to your viewers, share more information about your business, or drive traffic to your website.”

More information and a video detailing the changes can be found in the full blog post linked above.