New from YouTube, shop from ads

YouTube is about to up its ecommerce game.

The video streaming site says it will
roll out a new feature called shopping ads within videos, which allow users to go directly to retailers’ websites and buy the products featured in the ads.

The new program will allow for clickable product ads on any video shared on the site, such as product reviews or do-it-yourself videos that feature specific products, as long as the content owner approves.

The site already allows advertisers to include links in their own videos.

Under the new system, YouTube viewers can click the “i” icon in the upper right hand corner of the video, and new window will slide out to reveal the shopping ads.

“Shopping ads on YouTube provide an entirely new revenue stream for creators, providing another way to monetize product-focused videos,” site owner Google wrote in a blog post. “They also provide a more interactive experience for viewers, letting them shop directly from videos.”

YouTube has also revealed a handful of other new ad features, including the ability to promote mobile apps on videos viewed on mobile devices, and Customer Match, which helps advertisers reach their customer base across Google Search, YouTube and Gmail.

To read the entire blog post from Google, click here.

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