Google Adsense Introducing video units

Google will start offering YouTube videos as part of the Adsense Program starting Tuesday, according to several reports.

The Adsense “Video units” will display two kinds of advertising, ads contextual to the site and ads contextual to the video being played. Adsense users will not be able to pick from any YouTube video, but only videos from content providers who have signed an agreement with YouTube. Any revenue earned on the video will be split three ways between the site owner, content creator, and Google itself.

Although Google has previously offered video advertising on Adsense, and YouTube has previously been experimenting with video advertising, the new offering will be the first time Google has blended ads with YouTube content for display on third party affiliated sites.

The natural conclusion is that the move is part of Google’s efforts to get better returns from YouTube following their acquisition of the web’s most popular video sharing site in October 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Simply embed a snippet of code and have relevant YouTube partner content streamed to your site. You can choose categories of video to target to your site, select content from individual YouTube partners, or have video automatically targeted to your site content. Companion and text overlay ads are relevant and non-intrusive. To further blend the YouTube player into your site, you can also customize the color scheme and layout as well as choose from three different player sizes.

If you’re looking to build “stickiness” with your visitors, show quality YouTube partner video on your site, and earn extra revenue along the way, and want to know more, then review our common questions about video units. You can also check out the video below to see how it works.