Google aims to put publishers in the driver's seat with the YouTube Embedded Player

Google aims to put publishers in the driver's seat with the YouTube Embedded Player

Google announced the development of a new product targeted towards news publishers at a Berlin event, TNW reports

The YouTube Embedded Player Pilot will enable news companies to access to a more robust set of features on the YouTube player that they embed on their sites, which could enable them to sell their own advertising against their original content. 

This means that publishers would obtain full control over the ads that are loaded alongside their videos and will have a much better handle on how the revenue share aspect will work. Google will obviously take a cut of the money, and will also step in if the advertising quota set by the brand the publication has partnered with is exhausted, ensuring a continued revenue stream for the publication. 

Publications like La Stampa, The Guardian and El Pais are testing out the service in early 2016, and it will roll out to more publishers later in the year. 

The product is still its early days and so there is no news as to what the revenue share may be, but presumably it will be favourable enough towards publishers to incentivise them to sell their own inventory. 

From a music perspective, it will be interesting to see whether for example a publication like NME or Kerrang could take advantage of the feature to sell advertising against their original videos directly to record labels or concert promoters.

(Andrea Leonelli)