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YouTube Adds eCommerce Ads to Music Vids

Fancy the song in a YouTube video? Click an e-commerce ad to buy it on iTunes or Amazon.

The spiffy new retail links enable YouTube users to identify songs in a video, then download it from either of the two digital music retailers, according to a Google blog post.

iTunes and Amazon MP3 icons will appear on the watch page beneath music videos, along with other community features. Music labels can also put e-commerce links beside their videos — or even on videos uploaded by users that incorporate their music.

EMI and Universal Music Group were the first music companies to try the iTunes link, and Electronic Arts partnered with Amazon.com to put product links for video game Spore next to EA videos, reports The New York Times.

Claiming this is “just the beginning of a broad, viable e-commerce platform,” Google also plans to partner with retail partners in other sectors — film, print, TV, and live entertainment — expressing a desire to go international at some point.

Partners will get revenue from sales, which will ideally surpass what they’re getting for pre- and post-roll ads. Google also hopes to compensate for slowed growth in its text ad business, writes MarketingVOX.

And YouTube may finally start earning its keep, slowly making up for the $1.65 billion Google shelled out for it two years ago.

Google has made multiple attempts to effectively monetize the popular amateur video site, including pre- and post-roll, overlays, a do-it-yourself ad model, and mobile ad programs.