YouTube to offer advertisers guaranteed ‘airtime’

31 Mar 2014

YouTube is continuing its push to compete with traditional TV advertising by offering companies the chance to have guaranteed timeslots on videos, similar to peak time slots on TV.

Up until now, marketing arms of companies have been left frustrated by the Google-owned company for not letting them avail of a marketplace that has, over the last number of years, gradually pulled viewers away from traditional TV, along with the growth of on-demand TV, which can let viewers skip the adverts.

As major YouTube producers like PewDiePie and Jenna Marbles have subscriber lists consisting of millions of YouTube viewers, companies will be able to know their production and release schedules and predict when the videos will have the most viewers.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Jordan Bitterman, chief strategy officer of Mindshare, a company responsible for media buying, says this will encourage more marketing companies to work with the video-sharing site.  

“(It) will make it easier for chief marketing officers to feel more comfortable about moving ad budgets that weren’t earmarked for YouTube or online video to Google.”

Marketing companies had initially been sceptical of the ability to market products on the website because of a fear that the number of videos would drown out any adverts, but the growth of dedicated channels means the content has seen a more focused viewership.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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