YouTube to Offer Targeting Info

Google-owned video site YouTube has launched a new tool that offers users additional information to help tailor advertisers campaigns, and determine what times and which days their target audience is on the site.

The free program, known as YouTube Insight, allows anyone who uploads a video to the web site to see detailed metrics about who is watching it.

Marketers who buy ad space on the site already receive statistics about the performance of their ads. The new reporting tool enables users to see a trend graph for video views and also see in which country those viewers are located, via a simplified version of Google's Analytics package. Users can also glean information on what time of day most views are received, or what day of the week. Geographic information is based on viewers' numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address, which Google also uses to target ads by region.

The new metrics are available to all YouTube users, and not just to partners and advertisers, according to Tracy Chan, YouTube Program Manager, who comments: 'The new tools give a lot of context around the performance of video over time, where are your audience coming from and how your message is connecting to your audience.'

In the coming weeks, YouTube also plans to introduce a feature that shows how people come to watch different clips, whether through a search engine, a related video or a link on another web site. Until now, YouTube has only published statistics about the total number of views, and the comments or ratings a video received.

Web site: www.youtube.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.