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Google Launches First YouTube Ads

_14k4 writes "Video website YouTube is to feature advertising for the first time, after Google revealed it is offering companies the chance to run ads on some of the site's most popular content." I can't wait to sit through a dozen commercials while I try to waste some free time.

14 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. cue the whiners... by Trigun · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I'll never view YouTube again"
    "Google isn't supposed to be evil!"
    "Way to ruin YouTube!"

    ad nauseum

    1. Re:cue the whiners... by Reverend528 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Google Ads
      Some stay dry but others feel the pain
      Google Ads
      A baby born will die before the sin

    2. Re:cue the whiners... by SirTicksAlot · · Score: 5, Funny

      You forgot:
      "You are violating the DMCA by not watching the ads."
      By closing my eyes I am circumventing the ad delivery mechanism.

    3. Re:cue the whiners... by Reverend528 · · Score: 5, Funny

      They're already started redirecting my browser to whylynxisblocked.com.

  2. Thank goodness! by BuCKsWorld · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank goodness! I was starting to miss commercials when I watched shows on YouTube. Maybe Google can talk to all those BitTorrent guys about getting ads in those shows too. Hopefully it'll be very well targetted too, like luxury cars and tampons!



    -Chris

  3. Did anyone really expect by ironwill96 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    them to spend 1.65 BILLION dollars on something if they didn't have a revenue source in mind? The existing business model of YouTube was...oh wait, there wasn't actually a business model unless selling to some bigger company counts.

    --
    "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
  4. Excellent opportunity to test multiple choices by dada21 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think YouTube is fantastic -- I can grab snippets of information that I'm interested in, plus also have the option to search for proam video from events that normally don't get broadcast in the MSM. I think YouTube should offer some sort of "revenue sharing" options, though. This would quickly destroy the MSM as pro-am or pro videographers and filmographers could find income for their ventures.

    I'd prefer to see YouTube offer a "subscriber" option -- pay $x/month or $x/GB transferred to skip ads of all sorts. Sure, you can block some ads, but the video inserts you can't. Flash Video is capable of skipping segments based on server-data, such as seeing if a person has a subscription and if they have free gigs left. I'd happily pay for my video snippets -- even moreso if part of my subscription went to the video author or "owner."

    One-way TV is too limiting -- either you get all a channel's offerings, or you don't get it at all. Some channels are starting to allow PPV on-demand, which is excellent, but I still have to get the full buffet of channels (Digital ones) to get PPV. I'd rather do an a la carte selection, honestly. In 2 years, the amount I'd save over having to maintain a decent media center PC would be worth it for me (considering my media center PC is probably worth $1500 and has to be upgraded every so often) for the limited TV we watch.

    YouTube has a huge opportunity here to offer snippets, full shows, and amateur content, while offering the viewer the option to pay up front, or watch ads rather than paying. Bandwidth and hosting ain't free, not even for Google, who can also handle fee distribution between their hosting office and the content "owner." This is a big step to also reduce the need for companies to monitor for copyright infringement, as it gives them the option to host their own stuff and make the pennies per hit.

  5. Re:Commercials really bug me... by fimbulvetr · · Score: 5, Informative

    You should try RTFA. You don't need to sit through commercials before viewing the video you went to view. In fact, the overlayed 1/5th of the lower portion, commercial can be dismissed with one click.

  6. Sitting through commercials by reset_button · · Score: 5, Informative

    I can't wait to sit through a dozen commercials while I try to waste some free time.
    Did you RTFA before posting? (I know, I know, it's Slashdot...) From the article:

    The featured adverts are animated semi-transparent banners, or "overlays", that run along the bottom of the screen about 15 seconds into the video. They stay there for 10 seconds, allowing viewers to click on the overlay, which launches a deeper interactive video advert, while the main video is temporarily paused. Or viewers can ignore the overlay, and it will disappear.
    Seems to me like a pretty effective, yet not very obtrusive method for advertising.
    1. Re:Sitting through commercials by _14k4 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, I did rtfa... that line "I can't wait to sit..." was not from my submission and added by the person who approved the article for the front page. But, you knew that already anyway.

      I agree with you - it is pretty effective and not very obtrusive... however, with the addition of "ipod/etc" download options on google video, and I would assume youtube, does this mean that if you dload a video for your ipod that it will have an advert in it?

      It is all flash based, so one could assume/hope not...

  7. Re:Wait for it.... by veganboyjosh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe I should just spend this time inciting violence form the grammar nazis?

    You're on the right track...

  8. Re:Commercials really bug me... by eln · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know how to tell you this, but if you're complaining about using the mouse while browsing the web, you're fighting a losing battle. Yes, there are ways to navigate through websites without the mouse, but most of the time using the mouse is easier. With modern web design techniques, the mouse is becoming more essential to web browsing, not less so. Maybe you should invest in a nice mouse pad with a wrist rest, or perhaps a trackball.

  9. Re:Aghhh by Traxxas · · Score: 5, Informative
    Maybe someone should link an article with some real information about the ads:

    The ads, which appear 15 seconds after a user begins watching a video clip, take the form of an overlay on the bottom fifth of the screen, not unlike the tickers that display headlines during television news programs.
    This is a different kind of ad, just like Google changed ads on the internet they are changing commercials in video.
  10. Re:Commercials really bug me... by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 5, Funny

    But why do you have your hand off the mouse at all when you're browsing around video - ...

    Oh.

    Gross dude.