Stan Beer
Sunday, 15 October 2006 19:28
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
It was amusing to read a critique questioning how Google was going to be able to monetise YouTube on a news website that was displaying Google Ads.
YouTube is said to have 100 million videos
posted on its site and gets about 20 million unique visitors a month.
That's a good deal of content and quite a respectable audience.
If a company like Google, which makes billions a year from
internet-based advertising, can't figure out a way to tap the
advertising potential of its new high-priced asset then no-one can.
However, chances are that it will.
Some critics say that YouTube, unlike TV, doesn't have the stickability
and staying power that advertisers like. They say that while people
might spend hours browsing YouTube right now, they'll soon grow tired
and move on to something else.
Twelve years ago, critics were saying the same thing about the web. The
idea that the web would overtake newspapers as the key delivery
platform for real estate, cars and jobs advertising seemed ludicrous,
The idea that the web would replace TV as the key home entertainment
platform for many people seemed ridiculous.
However, more that one billion people have access to the web and many
of them - particularly younger people - spend more time surfing the net
than watching TV.
