YouTube Promoted Videos Branches Out Again

December 11, 2009

It should now be easier than ever for advertisers to get their videos in front of YouTube users in different countries. Today, YouTube's Promoted Videos program launched in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.

In return for a little money, Promoted Videos allows advertisers to have their clips stuck at the top of YouTube's "Related Videos" lists. The clips get a yellow background to help them stand out, too.

YouTube hasn't shared any specifics, but it's easy to believe that the Promoted Videos program is successful. Following a period of time during which it was only available to advertisers in the U.S., it became available in seven more countries on October 14th and in another two on October 27th.

Now, the total's at 16, which would be pretty impressive even without the fast expansion. What's more, Jay Akkad, a product manager, wrote on the YouTube Biz Blog, "We hope to roll out Promoted Videos to additional countries early next year."

Promoted Videos may not take YouTube to profitability all on its own, but it looks like the program is at least helping it bring in some revenue and cozy up to advertisers.

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Twitter Cofounder Talks Again About Acquisitions

November 24, 2009

There's no need to start refreshing the Twitter Blog every five seconds; it doesn't sound like any pens are poised over paper at the moment. However, Biz Stone has made some statements concerning acquisitions that point to more of them taking place in the future.

"That is something we are definitely interested in," Stone said at a press conference in Israel, according to Steven Scheer. He then referenced Summize, continuing, "We made an acquisition last year that turned out to be an outstandingly good decision."

And Stone also added, "As our attention is grabbed by some of these developers, we will take a hard look at them."

Now (and/or in the next few months) might be a good time for Twitter to make acquisitions, considering that its bank accounts are fairly full and the economy remains on shaky ground. Critics might grumble if Twitter spends money without first starting to make it - as always, monetization remains a concern - but there are other things, like iffy growth and uptime figures, to consider.

We'll keep an eye on the situation, then. Just don't place a bet on anything occurring during what's normally a rather slow news season.