Google Merge: Good for Business

That’s the word from marketing executives across the United States. Media buyers are looking forward to what will happen with the merge of Google’s search capabilities and the online world’s largest video provider, YouTube.

by Kristina Knight

In an interview with MediaPost, Greg Verdino, VP-director of emerging channels at Digitas said, "The AdSense model has been rock solid for Google, and now I see them extending that model into video."

Others aren’t as thrilled. Renny Gleeson, managing director of Carat Fusion's New York office, told MediaPost, "Now, with YouTube, Google poses a great threat to agencies and networks. Instantly they're looking at a massive amount of inventory."

Regardless of how you feel, the merge does point to positives for online marketers. The merge jumped YouTube into the second phase of development. The first phase – getting ad inventory on site – is complete. With the Google merge, the company can filter content for copyright violations and offensive content. The final phase – and this is where the largest benefit to marketers comes in - is to target ads contextually through understanding of the content. Google’s history and expertise will come in handy for advertisers targeting YouTube viewers.

Still not convinced? Look at the numbers. On average July saw YouTube.com serve up 100 million daily video streams according to comScore. Hitwise.com says YouTube was responsible for roughly 47% of all visits to video websites in the last week of September. With more than 63 million people logged on worldwide, 16 million from the U.S., marketers are seeing green at the possibility of even more users logging on thanks to help from Google’s search functions.