In the last 10-plus years, we’ve worked with a lot of companies to develop robust YouTube channels to showcase their products or brands.
For as long as I can remember, YouTube has had a partner program that has allowed creators to place ads on their videos and monetize them. But up until recently, marketers that didn’t want ads on their videos were able to upload their videos and embed them in their websites without ads appearing.
That has started to change recently. According to YouTube Help documentation “Ads may appear on your uploaded videos even if you haven’t monetized the videos yourself.”
So what does this mean for brands that are not trying to monetize their videos?
I guess that depends on if you are a glass-half-empty or a glass-half-full kind of person.
Pros and cons of this change
If you have a competitor that is heavily invested in YouTube video, you could target them and run ads on their videos. These ads could appear not just on YouTube but also on their website if they are embedding videos from YouTube on their sites.
Conversely, though, your competition could start running ads on your video content. If you are embedding from YouTube on your website, their ads could potentially start showing up on your own website.
What’s Next?
So one of the questions I’m getting a lot is: Should I get off YouTube with my brand content?
My answer here is: absolutely not.
YouTube is the No. 2 search engine in the world behind Google, and every day people go there to find solutions and products. We still have clients driving sales through YouTube, even with ads running on their content.
Here are a few things you should consider doing:
Revisit your videos on your YouTube channel. Make sure you’ve included good calls to action and links of your own in your YouTube content so people know how to find you vs. the advertiser that may be on your videos. You can place links in your video descriptions, etc.
Consider using Vimeo Pro instead of YouTube to embed your videos on your website. Vimeo will give you exposure to a whole other market, and Vimeo Pro lets you control what happens at the end of your videos and even how the player looks. They are ad-free, so you won’t see a competitor's ad running on your website embeds.
Think about starting your own ad campaign and targeting your competitors' videos. How great would it be to have your ads running on their website?
If you need help with your video or ads strategy give us a call.