Content in its own right

Last Friday Google expanded an existing YouTube masthead ad into a "crosstalk ad unit," according to Adam Stewart, Industry Director-Media and Entertainment at Google.

"It's a high-reach, high-impact ad unit that can deliver results," he said.

It's also much larger than typical mastheads, reflecting growing eagerness by major online brands to unroll bigger, more engaging banner ad units to draw both eyes and clicks. YouTube's audience is particularly coveted: the online video site serves nearly 30 million daily views on the homepage alone.

This masthead in particular works with other ad units on the YouTube page to entertain users. At present, Lionsgate Pictures is using it to promote its March 27 launch of "The Haunting in Connecticut."

The "Haunting" ad lets users type in ZIP codes to locate haunted buildings or spaces. Once a ZIP code's keyed in, search results from Google Maps return the nearest haunted locales.

Stewart declined to provide figures for the success of the campaign, but insisted that "we are encouraged by what we're seeing." Google in particular has enjoyed "incredible interaction rates with the ad unit."

According to MediaPost, Showtime used YouTube to premiere a new show, "United States of Tara," on January 12. The premiere gleaned 500,000 YouTube views in one day — US numbers alone — compared to 880,000 views on TV. The episode appeared in a 300×250 video ad unit.

YouTube Insight, an analytics tool, divulged that people paused the show during certain points in the program. This and other data will inform future marketing efforts, Showtime said.