According to the latest numbers from comScore released the other day, YouTube now leads Yahoo! as the world's second largest search engine!
Of course, it's not the same as your typical search engine, as it indexes only videos.
But it IS similar to search engines as now YouTube is offering "sponsored videos", something similar to and modeled after the well known Google AdWords.
You can promote individual videos by purchasing keywords, setting a monthly budget or cap on charges, and determining your own 'cost per click'.
YouTube even offers high definition, widescreen playback, so the muddy videos are history! (see below)
Spending money for viewers to watch a video? A new concept, for sure. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Google AdWords has obviously become a cash cow for Google's main search engine.
For example, if you search on 'iPhone', several ads appear to the right with videos on the Invisible Shield iPhone protector, an iPhone application and a video ad for "Dexter" on Showtime.
So, as all video sites have been searching for that ever elusive way to monetize the business, YouTube may resort to the old fashioned Google way: keyword search!
Hi Fred: Interesting - I had no idea on one hand, but on the other hand I am not surprised. I have searched for all sorts of things myself -- thanks for the heads up!
Fred, that is interesting information, thank you for sharing it! I had no idea that you tube had gotten so big nor that they did the pay per click type stuff. Thanks again!
Monika: Vimeo is great... Just be sure you don't upload any commercial real estate videos to VIMEO. It is against their terms of service and they will delete your account and notify you later. Veoh is good... for now! But YouTube quality now rivals VIMEO as they now offer high definition and widescreen format (see post).
Fred I have to agree with you about the eyeballs. In the same way that I work to get my listings to show up in Google I also don't mind if they show up in Live Search or Yahoo. YouTube is bigger than both of those search engines. Its just foolish to pass up such a huge number of potential customers by not putting your video on YouTube.
Great article. I agree, YouTube is a place to be when it comes to video. But when it come to offering and advertising a property for sale, it's not the only place to be. Video is a piece of the total advertising package. So if you are going to use video as a tour, then it should be a part of everywhere the property is advertised to truly make it effective.
The part that concerns me at times is the approach of "I'll put your property on YouTube." Great, but do people really shop for Real Estate on YouTube? The answer is no. In addition to that, we are seeing tour companies offering "deals" which have agents upload their photos, the photos are put into a slideshow, and uploaded to YouTube under that company's account. Why do they do this? The angle to me is simple . . . YouTube partnerships. This is a program that once you upload enough, you can apply to be a partner which gains you ad revenue for ads posted alongside your "video". So they are creating a product that is virutally free for them to create, charging you to post to a service which allows everyone to post for free, and also gaining ad revenue from your content. Help me understand this please.
The ONLY reason to upload to YouTube is that if tagged and described properly, that video is indexable and ranks (well) in the main Google search engine, which is THE #1 place where people search for real estate.
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According to the latest numbers from 
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Thanks, fred, I'll have to remember that.