Cheap as Free! Google Video’s Temporary Ad-Support Experiment
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Written By Reprise Media | June 23, 2006 | Share This
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Starting today and lasting “about a week” (reports Chris Sherman), a selection of Google Video’s “premium” clips (usually priced between $1.99 and $14.99) can be viewed for free - and, if you feel like it, you can also watch an ad.
Viewers can choose from a varied assortment of ad-supported videos, from cartoons (”Rocky & Bullwinkle, “Felix the Cat”) to home improvement (”Ask the Builder”) to movies (Chaplin films, “Hong Kong Hatchet Men”) to sports (college, ‘extreme’) to ’sports’ (pro wrestling). Each video is topped by a banner-type ad promoting its sponsor, with a link inviting viewers to “Watch their ad.” If you take them up on it, the video pauses while the commercial plays in a freshly opened window. The ad is also appended to the back end of the video (what’s called ‘post-roll’), for anyone who watches that far, although nothing prevents users from stopping the stream without viewing it.
Usually, Google Video’s premium fare is ‘pay-to-own,’ with the right to download the clip included in the purchase price. The sponsored videos, however, are streaming-only (hey, it’s free, not free-free).
Google gave advertisers the chance to choose which videos will carry their ads, and content owners are able to refuse an advertiser if they desire; they also get a cut of the revenue. Greg Sterling guesses it’s a “hybrid PPC/CPM formula,” meaning…well, we’re not sure what it means, but we assume there’s a pay-out associated with video views, or clicks to watch an ad, or both - and each action might use a different payment scheme.
Topics: Google |