AdWords Video Results Come to YouTube Australia

Google has finally launched its Promoted Video service for YouTube media clips in Australia. The offering basically works like the wildly popular AdWords keyword search, only it comes up with a list of “Promoted Videos” alongside regular search results.

Car manufacturers were the first to get in on the action, with Mitsubishi and Holden both shelling out coin to have their own videos promoted on generic search results. A scan for the term “4×4” or “car” in YouTube will put a sponsored link to Mitsubishi’s video channel next to the normal list of search results. If you try this at home, don’t be tempted to click on the “Is your tongue kissable?” clip that also shows up, as it’s a highly unwatchable skit for an electric toothbrush.

 YouTube’s Jay Akkad was in town to promote the launch of the service, which has been available in the US for more than a year. According to Akkad, the pricing of the service is done on a cost-per-click basis and is showing strong click-through results.

It isn’t all milk and honey with Google’s marquee clients on the project, as Simon Dunwoody, search director at Mediaedge:cia – the company that developed Mitsubishi’s YouTube campaign – told ITWire that he was in discussions with the search giant as to why the click-per-view cost had proved higher than the 5-10 cents he had been anticipating.

Despite these teething problems, Dunwoody expects Mitsubishi to continue using the service as it has boosted the subscriber numbers for the company’s YouTube channel. The Mitsubishi-themed channel has received 6,059 views since its launch on the 20^th of April this year and currently has 23 subscribers.

YouTube has also admitted that there is nothing stopping derogatory videos appearing in the organic search results next to promoted links. A spokesperson from the company told The Sydney Morning Herald that advertisers can combat this by adding negative terms to their campaign, to prevent the sponsored videos showing up next to certain results.

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Tags: Advertising, AdWords, Google, Online Advertising, Search Marketing, YouTube