YouTube tests mobile ads as Rythm New Media folds in the UK

Google’s mobile blog announced yesterday that it had been testing display ads on YouTube in the USA and Japan as ‘a first step’. Details are vague on the ad formats being trialled, the blog mentions an ‘additional branding tool’ for advertisers and Eric Schmidt has in the past expressed a a preference for ads that are embedded across the bottom of the video area itself, after trials of various ad formats on the PC Internet version of YouTube, including pre and post roll.

We have yet to see any actual mobile examples, nor it seems has anyone commenting on the news so far.

Schmidt has said finding the right form of advertising on YouTube is the “holy grail” and the blog talks of ads that ‘..contribute to the user experience while making the most sense for advertisers’. This is not an easy nut to crack at all, especially on mobile, where user experience and standard display ads can at times seem almost diametrically opposed. I find it hard to imagine how the mobile screen real-estate could accommodate worthwhile ‘framing’ ads, so I am kind of assuming that the mobile model must be pre and/or post-roll or maybe even just on-site rather than shoe-horned into the videos themselves.

As to whether ads will contribute to the user experience - again this seems a little hard to swallow - especially if the ads are basically interruptive. Perhaps Google has developed some form of interactive element that allows users to follow ad links that pique their interest whilst not detracting from the experience of watching the videos themselves. Again, achievable on PC, but quite hard to visualise on mobile.

Of course, for mobile video ads to work you need demand from advertisers. The largest provider of mobile video ads in the UK, Rhythm New Media (RNM) has reportedly gone into administration, despite having one million subscribers, deals with most of the major operators and a large number of heavyweight content owners. Some sources cite high CPM costs, but I feel that the ad format was just not attractive enough. Maybe sponsored content has to work much harder on the mobile screen than just before and after clips?

Another question to consider (following Viacom’s legal action last year) is how Google is going to get over the issue of potentially selling advertising off the back of unlicensed YouTube content.

So it looks like YouTube mobile ads are going to have to pull off a triple feat; be user friendly, commecially attractive to advertisers, while not opening google up to more legal claims.

I think they might need some fresh creative advertising input….

Eric, we await your call.

Also posted on www.welovemobile.co.uk