YouTube.com has kicked off a new advertising scheme called Brand Channel. Brand Channels will begin with a Warner Bros. Records promotion for Paris Hilton's new record that includes a Paris Hilton Channel. You can see the first video from the Paris Hilton Channel here. Reuters reports that the Paris Hilton Channel is sponsored by Fox's Prison Break.
YouTube will help drive traffic to the Brand Channels it sells, and the channels might have sponsors, as is the case with the Paris Hilton Channel, sponsored by Fox's "Prison Break."
The second initiative that officially rolls out Tuesday actually began nine days ago and is a platform that YouTube calls participatory video ads (PVAs).
YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley said the first PVA was for the Weinstein Co.'s current movie release "Pulse." The PVA appeared as a video commercial on the YouTube home page that users could rate, share and comment on -- in other words, do whatever they do with the usual fare they find on the site. The ads also earn "most viewed," "most discussed" and "top favorite" status just as regular YouTube content does.
The "Pulse" ad was viewed 900,000 times in four days, Hurley said. By comparison, all-time YouTube champ "Evolution of Dance" -- a six-minute video from Judson Laipply, a motivational speaker from Cleveland -- boasts 29 million views.
It's about time YouTube came up with a money making plan. They will need it to overcome their high bandwidth bills. The Financial Times is also covering the YouTube Paris Hilton news.
