Google Brings Ad-Supported YouTube Videos to AdSense Publishers

Google on Monday said that it has made ad-supported YouTube videos available to publishers in its AdSense network.

"Video units enable AdSense publishers to display videos from several YouTube content partners," said Christine Lee, product marketing manager for Google's AdSense, in a blog post. "The video units are ad-supported, and the ads are relevant to both the video and the site content, as well as unobtrusive. AdSense publishers and YouTube content partners will receive a share of the ad revenue, so video units enable both groups to earn incremental revenue."

Google has been testing video units for AdSense since last year. It has run pilot programs offering ad-supported content from MTV Networks, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group to a limited group of online publishers.

Now any English-language AdSense publisher in the U.S. can sign on to his or her AdSense account and generate HTML code that can be used to embedded sponsored YouTube video into a Web page.

Publishers have three ways to choose the type of video content that appears on their sites. They can select specific content providers; they can select specific content categories to display; and they choose to use automated targeting, which parses words on the Web page where the video will appear and serves video associated with identified keywords.

The videos that appear on the publisher's site will be updated periodically "so your users don't get bored," Google explains on the AdSense Web site.

Publishers can earn revenue from companion ads, which sit atop the video window like banner ads on a Web page, and text overlay ads, which occupy the bottom 20% of the video frame. The ads can pay out on the basis of clicks or impressions.

Publishers seeking to place video ads on their sites need to have a YouTube account in addition to an AdSense account.