Media buyers are confident that Google can extend its successful ad model to video with the purchase of YouTube.
Google's experience in online advertising and ability to provide appropriate ads for buyers is making many agencies optimistic about the future of ad buying on YouTube, AdAge reports. "With the likes of Google, we do have a deeper comfort that people that understand our programming guidelines are involved in the buying process," Sean Finnegan, U.S. director, OMD Digital is quoted as saying.
Jeff Lanctot, general manager of Avenue A/Razorfish explains that YouTube is in the middle of a three-step monitization process, and being acquired by Google will allow the video-sharing site to move to the third step of the process.
"The first phase was getting untargeted banner [ad] inventory on the site, which was a good start," he said. "The second phase, which they're in now, is filtering the video content enough to know what content is offensive and what content violates copyrights. The third phase - and where Google's expertise is going to prove invaluable - is in understanding the actual content of the video in order to contextually target ads."
Lanctot says YouTube is about a year away from reaching that third phase.