YouTube does U-turn, plans to intro pre-roll ads

After trying to monetize the video site with a variety of new-style ad programs, Google may be caving in and giving the green light to good, old-fashioned pre- and post-roll advertising on YouTube.

by Helen Leggatt

youtube%20logo.jpg It appears that buzz targeting, demographic targeting, AdSense for Video, geo-targeting and even revenue share couldn’t bring in enough ad revenue to keep pre- and post-roll advertising from YouTube’s door.

Things really must be tough if recent reports are true that the online video site is to adopt an advertising format that, according to its own survey, most of its audience dislikes.

According to YouTube group product manager Shashi Seth, “Pre-rolls and post-rolls did not perform well on our platform. [In our testing,] 75 percent of our users were unhappy with them.”

Another limiting factor for YouTube is that they only sell ads on material that has been approved by media companies and other partners which, according to the WSJ’s recent coverage, accounts for just 4% of the site’s video clips.

It will be interesting to see whether this move will see a backlash from YouTube users or perhaps a migration to other online video sites.