Do the mandatory commercials on YouTube ruin it for the masses? That’s the question posed today by those who go to YouTube for fun and relaxation and time wasting.
No question at all that commercials can be a huge waste of time, right?
YouTube’s push to monetize may alienate viewers. Mandatory commercials before video has been implemented by news sites abcnews or foxnews.com, but we can assume watching nesw clips takes precedence over funny ninja cat videos – or does it?
According to reports, the commercials are not even well targeted – one surfer reported seeing a Chili’s commercial featuring tasty meals – which are unavailable in Brazil, where he was located. Irritating, even more so than any old commercial, is one that sparks an interest in you for something that’s not even available where you live.
YouTube has begun searching for ways to monetize that allow for viewrs to be presented with products or concepts they might be interested in, but so far the targeting seems off. Most people are frankly irritated at the annoying AdSense ads, and these full scale commercials are making things worse.
Several of the commercials spotted have been again on news network clips, so perhaps it is not too widely spread yet; YouTube may be just capitalizing on the fact that people are already accustomed to the thirty second spots on the main news websites.
YouTube has always needed to turn a profit, and has so far failed miserably at monetization, creating a huge drain on Google’s resources. Only time will tell if advertising is the key, or if it will simply drive more viewers into the arms of alternate video outlets.
Tags: advertising, commercials, video search, YouTube