Google announced numerous changes to YouTube advertising, and is considered the most important updates since the origin of the most popular online video platform. The objective is to clean up its content, in order to respond to the demands from advertisers.
We review how the changes impact the different parties involved and whether the updates improve the relationship of YouTube brands.
Stricter requirements for YouTube advertising
To understand why Google changes on YouTube, we must bear in mind that the purchase of advertising on the video platform is done programmatically, and that the majority of YouTube content is uploaded by the users themselves. In order to provide greater control over YouTube advertising to advertisers, and improve the quality of the content in which the ads appear, the company has taken the step to some new features that affect users, creators of content and brands.
Content creators have thus been affected by new and more demanding requirements in order to be able to charge for advertising on the platform. Consequently, the monetization for youtubers goes from the 10,000 reproductions required so far, to needing a minimum of 1,000 subscribers, as well as 4,000 hours of total playback made in the last year. In addition, even fulfilling all these requirements, the creators of content must also comply with YouTube standards, as indicated from the signature in a statement, so that, if a channel repeatedly violates and offensive these rules, will be removed from the Youtube Partners Program.
More quality and transparency for ads
Advertisers seek to have simpler controls and greater transparency on YouTube. Google will begin to make a complete review of Google Preferred channels and videos. This was created to publicize the most popular and interesting YouTube channels, to help advertisers reach their audiences more easily. From now on, the channels included in the program will be selected manually, and the ads will only be added in the videos that are verified, to guarantee that they comply with the rules of the platform.
In addition, in order to provide advertisers with greater transparency on where their ads will be incorporated, YouTube has started to collaborate with some trusted suppliers to provide independent reports on the security of brands on the platform. YouTube is already in beta with IAS (Integral Ad Science), and soon will also launch a beta version with DoubleVerify, for example.
More transparency for users
YouTube also recently announced an innovation that is aimed at improving transparency for its community of creators, advertisers and viewers. It involves including a notice in the videos uploaded to the platform by news channels, which are subsidized in some way by governments. The goal, according to YouTube “is to equip users with additional information to help better understand the sources of news content they choose to watch on YouTube .”
At the moment, this new functionality will only be available in the United States, and users and advertisers can send feedback to the platform in order to improve this service. The notice would appear below the video, and above the title of the same, and include a link to Wikipedia, so that viewers can know more about the channel that is behind the news broadcast.
As we see, the video platform is looking for ways to improve its relationship with brands, and these are innovations that aim to improve the quality of content, something that is beneficial for users and advertisers. Users will have access to videos from reliable sources, and advertisers will see how their ads are included in the videos suitable for their brand. We will have to see how the platform evolves and if all these changes meet expectations in the future.
First published by Zenith Spain
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