youtube monetization

2008-08-08 @ 15:26#

yeah, this is 'off-topic' here, but i couldn't let this one pass. i saw this today and just scratched my head:

At a recent meeting of Internet video executives at the RBC Capital conference, the panelists told those in attendance that user-generated content simply doesn’t provide any real monetization value and Google needs to find new ways to turn things around if it wants to turn a profit.

so...

the fact that *tons* of folks visit the site, share links to the site, and tell their friends about the site "...simply doesn’t provide any real monetization value..."? whaaaa?

that makes no sense to me.

traffic is traffic. traffic is eyeballs. traffic is demographic details. traffic is monetization!

ok, maybe this post is saying that *advertisers* aren't getting it and can't figure out how to use the traffic to their advantage. or maybe this post is saying *Google* is not getting it and can't figure out how to use the traffic to their advantage. but, come on. there's a goldmine there!

i have a hard time believing that the PhDs @ Google can't derive a *boat-load* of demographic information from the clicks, links, and views collected from YouTube traffic. so i must assume that advertisers simply don't understand how to use the data properly.

afaict, advertisers are missing the boat here, not google.

personal