When I first heard about GooTube's new
InVideo advertising gimmick
- the one where they overlay an ad icon over the video at the bottom of the screen that you can click to see the whole ad - my first thought was, "Bet that's not going to go over well."
It hasn't. According to Computerworld HK, over 130 YouTubers have posted to the YT blog saying, "DO NOT WANT".
Well, not everyone. There were some positive comments. But not many. I can see why. I'm not anti-advertising, but I don't know that I'd want some logo stuck on my uploaded video. Unless I was getting a cut, maybe. Which would mean they at least asked me first.
This is worth paying attention to, because in this Whatever 2.0 age, advertisers are looking for as many new ways as possible to reach their target. And now that everyone's starting to realize that people are only going to pay so much for content on the web and on their mobiles, etc, ads are the classic way to subsidize their content habit - or, in the case of emerging low-ARPU markets, it's a way to widen the customer base beyond the high end.
Fine, but ad pervasiveness is risky business. If yr not annoying the "No Logo" contingent, yr desensitizing the audience. One reason I don't hate advertising is that I barely notice it anymore - it's practically part of the scenery. Especially on the web - banners and sponsored Google links just don't register most of the time.
Put simply, there is such a thing as going too far. It may be too soon to tell if the YouTube InVideo scheme counts, but there's going to be plenty of other candidates in the queue. And soon.