YouTube's (GOOG) Secret Ad Plan Revealed: 'Buzz Targeting'

Michael Learmonth | May 13, 2008 5:36 PM

dogvideo.jpegRemember Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt's secret plan, alluded to in a CNBC interview last month, to turn YouTube into a money-minting machine?

YouTube says it's now ready to talk about part of it: A system called "buzz targeting," which figures out which videos are about to "go viral", and lets marketers stick overlay ads on them.

The catch here is that the only videos YouTube includes in the algorithm are produced by "YouTube content partners"--largely professional producers of content from the studios, record labels and TV networks, not the random user-generated content that made YouTube famous, and still does. So this clip of LeBron James jawing with Paul Pierce (and LeBron's mother), which has been viewed 1.9 million times in the last 24 hours, won't make the cut -- because it's been submitted by someone named "Odenized", not TNT or the NBA.

We don't know how much of YouTube's traffic is represented by the "YouTube content partners" and YouTube won't tell us. So while targeting video seems like a no-brainer for YouTube, it doesn't solve the problem of how YouTube can dominate Web video so extensively but only extract a projected $100 million ad revenue in 2008.

This does, however, seem to be a boon to the music labels, since YouTube's most popular videos are routinely music videos, including this video, viewed more than 50 million times on YouTube in the past 6 months.

Subscribe to SAI: RSS, email newsletter (no spam)

More:

Share:
Post to Del.icio.us


< Prev. Story
Next Story >

31 Comments

az said:
not much creativity here, not that i have a better alternative. what google needs to realise is that the companies with large advertising budgets will absolutely not sponsor uncensored material which makes up the bulk of user-generated video on youtube.
jenkins said:
This is surprisingly weak. I was expecting something much better and much more scalable than this. This is kind of ridiculous.
jay said:
googie workers are going to make the videos and placement just like the movies do, then when the branding needs to happen they move it up the list. Works in a tom hanks movie, why not sexy girl dancing with coke can placement,lol
stone said:
I have to agree with the others here. This seems like a strange idea and not one I'd expect to see coming from Google.
Jasonious said:
This is definitely is lame. Has it occurred to anybody else that Google may *actually* be a one trick pony. I mean, hey, it's quite a trick, but with all that money and all that supposed brain power, you'd think they would be wowing us day after day with their brilliant ideas and awesome execution.

I'm just sayin'
noblow said:
Her: "Hi, you must be Mr. Bond?"

Him: (clears throat) "No, my name is Lame, Google Lame."

Seriously, Google *is* a 1.5 trick pony company, desperately looking for new killer products that bring in the money once search reaches end-of-life (which is expected to be soon).

Whatever they do in terms of advertising; they won't be able to tap the zillions of videos uploaded by their users. And so Youtube will continue to be a loss-making business. LOL.
bob (URL) said:
sure the Tube is not making money now, but in the mean time they are refining the infrastructure for the new World TV Network. Trust me, Google will eventually make the "big bucks" out of this. Start your channel now or get left behind! -BBQ Pit Boys
Steve Baldwin (URL) said:
This idea may not be as lame as it appears at first glance.

If you couple the predictive algorithm to an automatic system in which Google could "help along" the "about to be viral" video with listing placements throughout its Adsense content network or via selected placement on Youtube's home page, one could practically guarantee that a given video would reach critical mass.

Whether such placements would constitute "payola" ("servola?") is another question, but such concerns could be mollified by labeling these listings as "Youtube Promotions."

Goober said:
Hmm...pretty dumb.
cnnfan1234 said:
Im not sure what there thinking here...this idea simply reaks of spam.
Ryne Nelson (URL) said:
I submitted the LeBron James video to YouTube, and had no idea it would go viral only hours later. I've submitted Kobe Bryant clips that hit half-a-million views in one day, but nothing to this magnitude.

Mr. Learmonth, if you could send me a quick note, I would love to ask you a question regarding your article. Thanks again for alerting me about YouTube's 'buzz targeting' campaign.
Michael Learmonth said:
Hi Ryne--go ahead an send me a note mlearmonth at alleyinsider.com. tx
John Billington (URL) said:
Wouldn't the point of this system to let the advertisers know the context of the clip they are advertising against so that it is contextually relevent to their offering? If so, the window is probably pretty short between seeing a blip in the buzz metrics and it going viral.

ALso, Google has a serious copyright problem that they haven't addresed and that is possibly preventing them from monitizing the user-uploaded stuff. They can't sell ads against a clip recorded from TNT or other cable chanels without TNT's consent. They need a more sophisticated licensing system or royalty splits that would enable them to monetize any video in the system but I don't think they've even thought that through.
BS said:
Arrghh, this is so frustrating. The embedded clip says "We're sorry this video is no longer available." This was also the clip of the Amy Winehouse clip in the post.

This is going to be YouTube's achilles. I am seeing these take-down messages more and more. Consequently, I'm not seeing YouTube as the place to look for these clips. The stuff I want to see, the legit stuff, is not there.
Peter Kafka said:
@BS - both the clip in this post, and the one in our Amy Winehouse post from today, seem to be working just fine.
alex said:
"We're sorry this video is no longer available."
BS: I have been getting the above line (that you are also seeing) on 9/10 videos on YouTube... I am so frustrated... But.. I think this might be a problem with some settings on our PCs. Probably related to Flash..

I tried to unistall Flash, install again, but as many times as I tried, I have managed to solve the problem...

My roomate has no problem in seeing the exact same vids that i cannot...

If ANYONE has a clue as how we can fix this, please do tell

alex
steveking said:
YouTubeRobot.com today announces YouTube Robot 2.0, a tool that enables you to download video from YouTube.com onto your PC, convert it to various formats to watch it when you are on the road on mobile devices like mobile phone, iPod, iPhone, Pocket PC, PSP, or Zune.

YouTube Robot allows you to search for videos using keywords or browse video by category, author, channel, language, tags, etc. When you find something noteworthy, you can preview the video right in YouTube Robot and then download it onto the hard disk drive. The speed, at which you will be downloading, is very high: up to 5 times faster than other software when you download a single file and up to 4 times faster when you download multiple files at a time.

Manual download is not the only option with YouTube Robot. You may as well schedule the download and conversion tasks to be executed automatically, even when you are not around. Downloading is followed by conversion to the format of your choice and uploading videos to a mobile device (if needed). For example, you can plug in iPod, select the video, go to bed, and when you wake up next morning, your iPod will be ready to play new YouTube videos.

Product page: www.youtuberobot.com
Direct download link: www.youtuberobot.com/download/utuberobot.exe
Company web-site: www.youtuberobot.com
E-mail: support@youtuberobot.com
jeff said:
mp4 converter for mac allow you to trim videos, crop videos and apply special effects to videos.
Rosanna said:
mac video converter is the best software you have been looking for , no matter you are a beginner or veteran, you will find mac video converter is really made for you.And so does dvd ripper for mac, no matter you want to convert dvd to any format you want, it is always your best helper.

UserName said:
digital signage advertising display[jihaaabdhgddjh]
Eric L. Prentis said:
With this easy-to-use m2ts converter，you can edit and adjust the video settings, Futuremore, , this poweful tool can let you playback your converted files on all popular portable players.
video joiner for mac can Join multiple videos of same or different format and save it as single video.

welcome to wow gold,world of warcraft gold,warcraft gold,world of warcraft gold,wow leveling, the cheapWoW Power Leveling, service site,world of warcraft WoW Power Leveling,fast and secure service.we WoW Power Leveling, WoW gold isn’t found everywhere in the game; WoW Power Leveling,you have to look for it and, when you find it,WoW Gold, you have to save it.WoW Gold,WOW goldis earned through doing things like killing enemies, WoW Gold, hunting and crafting. WoW Gold, is for sale online at a number of locations. buy WoW Gold,The decision wow gold,wow gold to buy wow gold is one Cheap WoW Gold, that many video gamers wrestle with. Cheap WoW Gold,Many World of Warcraft players try to play the game on their own wow power level before making the decision to buy wow gold. Cheap WoW Gold,If you wow gold,want to buy Cheap WoW Gold,wow gold there is nothing wrong with it.WoW Gold, Buying wow gold is similar to finding cheat codes WoW Gold,World of warcraft Power Leveling,World of warcraft Power Leveling,age of conan gold,aoc gold,buy aoc gold,cheap aoc gold,aoc power leveling,age of conan power leveling,aoc power leveling,aoc gold,age of conan gold,age of conan power leveling,maplestory mesos, maple story mesos,maple story mesos,maple story mesos,maple story mesos,Maple Story mesos,MapleStory mesos,ms mesos,mesos,SilkRoad Gold,SRO Gold,SilkRoad Online Gold,eq2 plat,eq2 gold,eq2 Platinum,EverQuest 2 Platinum,EverQuest 2 gold,EverQuest 2 plat,lotro gold,lotr gold,Lord of the Rings online Gold,oil purifier,rolex replica,replica rolex,chongqing,yantai,evening dresses,evening gowns,wedding dresses,bridal gowns,wedding gowns,cocktail dresses,Bridesmaid dresses,prom dresses,formal dresses,Promotional items,Promotional products,Wedding dresses,Pet supplies,Dog clothes,Replica handbags,Replica Watches,wedding cake toppers,cake toppers,digital cameras,digital camera,warhammer online,war gold,digital cameras,digital camera,Mobile Phones,Mobile Phone,Cell Phones,Cell Phone,Mp3,world of warcraft power leveling,world of warcraft power leveling,power leveling wow,power leveling wow,power leveling wow,cheap wow power leveling,cheap wow power leveling,cheap wow power leveling,buy wow power leveling,buy wow power leveling,buy wow power leveling,power leveling,power leveling,power leveling,power level,power level,power level,
gabby (URL) said:
640-802 YouTube's (GOOG) Secret Ad Plan Revealed: 'Buzz Targeting' It's nothing special. That's a bad idea if I've ever heard one.
oioiaerk (URL) said:
Nike Air Jordans Kicks & Nike Air Force Ones Shoes. Sneaker News - 7 visits - Sep 24Shoes by Nike like Air Jordan sneakers, Nike Air Force 1s & Dunks. Daily(24/7) sneaker news from Bape, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Vans, Greedy Genius, & more.>jordan 7 retrojordan sneakers
wow (URL) said:
wow gold http://www.mmoga.com
MMOGA mediates virtual goods for online games within 1-24 hours. Offers don´ t only consist of the latest games, items, WoW powerleveling, WoW gold but WoW accounts and much more. Furthermore we have currencies for plenty top online games like Silkroad Gold, Guild Wars Platin, Eve ISK, Lotro Gold, AOE Gold and many more.
In addition we offer prepaid game cards for many games. Multilingual competent team, we are your MMORPG´s partn
aergaer said:
wholesale shoes, distributor shoes, closeout shoes, discount shoes Wholesale,PursesWholesale shoes Wholesale,Shoes Wholesale,Wholesale Scarves,etc..cheap nike shoes
retro air jordansBuy Everything at Wholesale Price.

Join the discussion



Copyright © 2008 Silicon Alley Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.