YouTube Cracks Down On Sneaky Brand Integrations
This story was written by David Kaplan.
YouTube has a warning for its top content partners: don't include any branded integration without getting our permission first. Mediaweek has heard from some nervous YouTube partners, who fear that they'll be booted from the site. Not to worry, says Tom Pickett, YouTube's director of online sales and operations; the messages are just a nudge to obey the Google-owned video site's terms of service. At least at this point, the worst that will happen is that an offending video would be taken down.
Inconsistent enforcement: The reason for YouTube's stepped up policing efforts is likely related to the site's plans to roll out a new offering meant to make it easier for its content partners to place product placement in their videos within the rules. In the past, YouTube as encouraged its users to purchase support support media to generate traffic to branded content videos. But producers of those videos feel that the extra cost only makes their videos less profitable for them. It's not so much that users begrudge YouTube trying to make a cut from their branded integrations, but some claim enforcement efforts are inconsistent. For example, in some cases, rather than threatening a take down notice, YouTube merely decided not to promote the branded videos.
By David Kaplan