No Ads in Embedded YouTube Player (Yet...)

Last week a new YouTube ad unit was prognosticated by ZDNet’s “Googling Google” blog (by way of Search Engine Journal). YouTube has updated its embedded video player to include related video thumbnails at the bottom of the embedded video, prompting ZDNet’s Garett Rogers to predict, “For the next several months, people will get very used to using the related video tool that was just introduced. As soon as it becomes second nature for users to use the tool, we should start to see sponsored results mixed with these related videos.”

Well, it’s not a far cry from what YouTube does on its homepage, featuring sponsored video in a large top right placement. Still, for what it’s worth, YouTube says it won’t serve ads into the sponsored embedded player, now or anytime soon.

“Youtube is not currently serving advertisements in the embedded player and does not have any plans to do so in the near future,” a YouTube spokesperson told ClickZ News.

Note the statement, in addition to employing the “near future” qualifier, does not mention sponsored video specifically.

Oh, and on a separate note affecting media firms and possibly advertisers, The Wall Street Journal reported today that YouTube is developing its video-fingerprinting technology, to “spot television shows and films posted by consumers without the content owners’ permission, so the sites can remove them or share advertising revenue.”

This technology has been promised by YouTube for quite some time and has served to pacify media partners that have agreed to provide their video content to YouTube. According to the story, it is believed the technology will be made available in the fall, and Time Warner and Disney plan on testing it “beginning in a month.”