YouTube introduces buzz targeting

Wouldn’t it be great if you could identify the next big viral videos to come out of YouTube and place your ads on them? Now you can.

by Helen Leggatt

youtube%20logo.jpg Just about any video on YouTube has the potential to become the next big viral hit, but until the ratings and viewing activity begin to climb it is hard identify exactly which it will be.

YouTube’s newly launched “buzz targeting” product will do just that. It will identify which videos are becoming popular and about to “go viral” by using a specially created algorithm. Marketers can then choose to input overlay ads around these videos to take advantage of the huge audiences set to view the content.

The algorithm takes into account the early acceleration of views for a video along with the number of times it is made a “favorite” and the number of ratings it receives to ascertain whether it will be a hit.

"We believe buzz targeting is a strong marketing opportunity for any advertiser that wants to offer compelling content alongside the most popular videos taking off on the site," said a spokesperson for Google via Clickz. "It's an opportunity for them to wrap themselves in the experience that is YouTube itself."

There is, however, a catch. Only videos produced by “YouTube content partners”, who are invariably professional content producers, will be included in the buzz targeting algorithm.