Opinion: Marketing Society Forum - How valuable will YouTube be to marketers?

sophisticated consumer profiles. This gives marketers the chance to talk
to consumers in a place where they choose to spend time.

The challenge for agencies is to do it in an engaging way that offers
real value in terms of entertainment and information. Our client
Hewlett-Packard has seeded user-generated versions of its ads on YouTube
and urged others to create their own too. This is helping to transform
brand perceptions among a younger audience.

GUY PHILLIPSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, INTERNET ADVERTISING BUREAU

YouTube already carries traditional display ads, but it presents another
chance for marketers to build their brands online.

Increasingly, YouTube will secure deals with the big film studios to
provide premium full-length content, making it a key destination for
video on demand and IPTV.

Essentially, it's TV on a smaller scale - which marketers understand -
and some brands are already testing the water. VW, for instance, has
been running an 'Unpimp my ride' campaign, which has seen it upload
alternative versions of its ads to the site, generating a huge
response.

Ultimately, success will favour those that understand how to turn
advertising into social currency.

CHARLES DAVIES, MARKETING DIRECTOR, YAHOO! MEDIA GROUP, EUROPE

Users of sites such as YouTube and Yahoo! Video usually do so either by
searching for a topic or following a recommendation.

The result is a highly engaged audience in an environment where
contextually relevant advertising can be more effective than broadcast
media.

Sponsorship, channel and video-player branding are packages that can
accompany video-on-demand services, aligning advertisers with
professional and user-generated content.

The opportunities are very exciting for small businesses. For example,
one Californian wine seller uses Yahoo! Video to post a weekly
wine-tasting infomercial, which attracts a highly interested
audience.

WAYNE ARNOLD, FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, PROFERO

If YouTube remains just an amusing site to find and share video content,
its commercial value will be limited.

However, if it becomes the gateway to all video content, from TV shows
and film through to videos of Billy breakdancing in his bedroom, it will
be the equivalent of MTV, ITV and niche cable channels all rolled into
one, and hugely valuable to marketers.

It could well break down the traditional ways of finding content. As
content starts to be delivered to every home via IPTV, YouTube has the
potential to be the world's biggest cable operator. Rather than using
the remote control, consumers will find entertainment for their TV or PC
via Google and YouTube.