Viddling Around™

Expanding on their early success in the US and Canada, Google this past week expanded their service the the UK. Unlike the typical cost-per-click text ads which then direct the consumer to the advertisers offering - typically their web site - the new video ads are billable when the user simply watches the commercial. This means that the consumer may never actually click all the way through to the advertiser’s site and offering, but the advertiser still pays just for the view. This isn’t necessarily controversial - after all, it’s how TV works today - but in light of how the other ad plays are working in video (re: Revver), this is a bold step relative to how a lot of traditional online ad buys are done. That beind said - it’s just fine for branding plays, where click-throughs to the advertiser site are secondary to the brand play. It will be interesting to see how the click-through numbers compare, especially after the initial novelty wears off.

Click here to see a good example of how these look in action.