Today after discussions with Digital News Initiative participants, Google announced at an event in Berlin that it’s working on a new product for news publishers to entice them to upload to its service directly.
Called the YouTube Embedded Player Pilot, it’s a new service for news companies that allows more control over the YouTube player embedded on their own sites so they can build their own audiences and sell ads on original content.
It gives news publishers full control over the embedded version of YouTube videos uploaded onto their own channels. Publishers will get control over the ads that are loaded, sales rights and revenue share.
The rights on embedded players means they’re able to sell their own advertising without Google taking a cut, then backfill with Google’s advertising where needed.
Google will work closely with publishers as part of this, providing best practices on how to use the player and what content to embed. The program is proposed to be a way to replace the in-house created video players often seen on sites like the BBC or The Guardian.
The company said it’s still early days on the new player, as it’s working out the look and feel of the player, editorial control of content, distribution, ‘next video’ suggestions, ad formats and data.
The pilot will launch in Q1-Q2 early next year with pilot partners including The Guardian, El Pais, La Stampa and more before launching wider in Q2-Q3.
It’s an interesting proposal, as many news publishers have heavily invested in Facebook video instead. The difference is, YouTube pays publishers and Facebook doesn’t, so providing even more revenue opportunities is a big deal.
There’s no way to sign up right now, since it’s only in a pilot phase, but Google said it intends to open the program wider next year.
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