Introducing Adsense video units

[Token]

Looks like Google Adsense has video's

[adsense.blogspot.com...]

The info they have says :
If you're ready to get started now, sign in to your AdSense account and head for the AdSense Setup tab. Click the video units link and you'll be on your way to setting up your first video unit.

I am in Australia, and I cannot see this option. Does anybody have this yet?

[ryanjensen]

In the US and I do *not* see the option for video units. If it matters, I was in on the beta of the Adsense Referrals.

[jchampliaud]

"In the US and I do *not* see the option for video units."

I also don't see the option for video units. Maybe they sent this out to soon?

[zjacob]

Although this is better than nothing, the release is still a huge disappointment.

The content providers seem to be very limited, as well as it seems that the videos are selected based on content provider channels, and not individual videos.

What many have been waiting for is getting Revver type of Adsense video monetization format for the masses of video content producers, via Youtube or not.

It would be nice to embed any youtube video and have the same type of Adsense video player option.

[JS_Harris]

I didn't find anything on how Google could stop the spread of MFA sites that will have instant quality items on their site that they were too lazy to create before.

If this is rolled out to everyone we're going to see a glut of video sharing sites pop up instantly.

[djmick200]

What the original Adsense blog post doesn't mention but the YouTube video tutorials tell you is this:

Video units will be available on 10/9 to all U.S.-based AdSense publisher with English designated as their language

How to get started with video units [youtube.com]

Perhaps ASA may tell us non-US publishers when it will be rolled out for us to implement.

[WiseWebDude]

Yea, I don't see the link either...they are fibbing, LOL.

[ecmedia]

I do not see the link either but this announcement was made last night (Oct 8) and it is still extremely early in California office of Google - I think we might see it later today as these guys come to work and turn on the switch. Can't wait for this awesome program to get started.

[bhartzer]

This would be a great new feature for AdSense. I'm looking to test it out on a few hundred sites.

Does this mean that we're even closer to having true "contextual video"? We've had "contextual ads" since 2003. Why has it taken Google so long to give us contextual video ads?

[skweb]

Nothing in AdSense dashboard yet - after all this buzz Google screwed up. This is a long-awaited feature - we have all been adding YouTube ads forever; now we have an incentive to do so.

[Quadrille]

It would be nice to embed any youtube video and have the same type of Adsense video player option.

I'd like that too - but the reason for what they propose is that it's a three-way split on cash - Google, publisher and video owner. So they need to have control of quality and ownership issues.

It's a neat box; banner at the top, mouse-over to enlarge the foot ad. And three sizes.

Hopefully, by the time it reaches me (UK), they'll have more than 100 creators on side.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

We don't have a date for when video units will be available for non-US publishers, but US publishers should now be seeing the option in their accounts. (Sorry for any confusion caused by the slightly premature announcement.)

Please continue to share your feedback about this new feature, and I'll be sure to pass your thoughts along to our engineers and product managers.

-ASA

[Paris]

No, it's not up on my stateside account either.

There is probably a good reason why Google announced something that isn't available. There's a rival product being announced tomorrow and it's just Google coming through with a pre-emptive strike. Now THAT rollout will carry less media weight, even if it actually launches before Google's video units.

It's a tactical world that we live in.

[MediaSpree]

Still not displaying, 1:20 EST :)

[ebound]

1:15 pm est, in the US, and the link is still not showing up for video units.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Oops, let's try this again... I found out we're waiting on another push to bring this feature fully live.

I apologize again for the confusion, and will let you know when I find out more.

[elsewhen]

i looked through the faq but dont see any info about the limitations of use with respect to number of ad units. is one adsense-for-video player allowed in addition to other adunits and link-units, or does the player count as an adunit?

[ecmedia]

elsewhen, my understanding is that video unit is a unit in and by itself (you can put one on a page) and has nothing to do with other AdSense units; unless of course Google clarifies otherwise. Personally, though, I would like to replace one ad unit with the video unit so that my readers don't find too much advertising, but again, each publisher has to make up his or her mind.

[gibbergibber]

I'm a bit sceptical... I don't see this bringing any new content to sites, it will simply smear existing content all over the place. MFA sites will become even harder to distinguish from real sites.

It's also a bit worrying from the video makers' perspective: Google will get money, the person showing the video will get money, but will the person who actually made the video get any money?

If content makers do all get paid, it will cause huge legal headaches for Google if it turns out the video is ripped from another source, and if the makers don't get paid then this whole thing feels a bit parasitic.

[matimer]

GibberGibber-you're panicking it's supposed to be a 3 way split so the content provider makes a 1/3, also it's only with pre-approved content on Adsense so there is no risk on Google's side of the coin.

[jeffgroovy]

I'm a bit sceptical... I don't see this bringing any new content to sites, it will simply smear existing content all over the place.

People have been able to "smear" embedded youtube videos all over their sites for quite some time, so the only difference will be monetization is built into the video itself and not just the ad units surrounding it. I think this a great idea to complement sites that already have original content and would like to add more value with videos and can do so now with a little monetization. I'm looking forward to testing this the moment I see option available in my account.

What I'm the most excited about is that I don't have to go hand select the videos for each page, I just paste in some code. Hopefully the targeting will be good and video inventory will be large enough.

[MediaSpree]

Its up for me 6:30 Eastern, here I go!

[MediaSpree]

...and I enter my information into youtube, they send me a confirmation email, I click the link in the email to verify my account and get this

Grant Account Access Failed
Sorry, we could not verify your AdSense account. Please check that the URL in your web browser exactly matches the URL in your confirmation email.

[jeffgroovy]

Up for me! I'll see you later, I've got work to do.

Hmmmmm...looks like some videos won't have ads.

[celgins]

Okay... I can create a custom player and select videos from Categories/Providers, but I'm wondering if Google will allow publishers to select specific videos?

[bennyp]

Ok, so I've added the code but all that shows up is "Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com". Anyone else seeing this?

[matimer]

This was lame, may Gbeta should beta tested it before launching to the large crowd.

Google chooses lame videos for my site and puts google adsense on it, or i choose cool videos and put adsense on top of it... tough choice

[icedowl]

bennyp, that is all that I see too. Hmmm... not what I expected.

[bennyp]

icedowl, well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. It's been IIRC about 2 hours since I implemented, and nothing yet. Hopefully it just takes time to show up, but so far nothing...

[poodwaddle]

I dont know if anyone is aware of it, but youtube videos have always been embedable in Flash files so one could easily create their own youtube video player to display videos of their own choosing. (I have several on my site) The only thing adsense offers is the placement of ads in the videos which I think is very intrusive. I wonder how this will be received by the public when they see ads on videos. I bet people will dismiss these sites and skip right to youtube where they can watch the video without the ads.