YouTube, the largest video haven on the Web, is oft described as a potential gold mind - both for its owner, Google, and for the advertisers that tout products and services beside (or, now in some cases, inside) the playback window. Many believe that the revenue to be generated from the vast archive of premium content and user-submitted clips amounts to a large figure. A very, very large figure.
Yet it appears that a sizable number of marketers aren’t too keen to buy space on the site, even knowing the potential benefits for securing those spots, according to Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press.
For some, the qualms about purchasing face time is attributable to the uncertainty surrounding their advertisements’ placement on YouTube’s pages. Because the site is concentrated overwhelmingly with original video clips recorded by users, marketers cannot be given an absolute guarantee as to which clip(s) will serve which ads. Thus they hesitate to spend as they wish to.
The reserved choices made by such advertisers certainly has everything to do with the fear of being pinned by activist groups that choose to pester and harass companies selling items through links “associated” with controversial video clips. Some typical examples would be human and animal rights organizations, and perhaps even those associated with environmental causes, just to name a few. (more…)