YouTube has big brands in its sights

26th September 2007

Big brands are being courted by video-sharing website YouTube, it has been reported.

According to India's Economic Times, the website - which is owned by Google - has set its sights on turning the millions of viewers it receives daily into cash.

To that end, it is in the process of implementing a number of changes to the site, which it hopes will attract marketers.

The addition of professionally-shot content is one change, marking a departure from the usual peer-created content that the site hosts.

Videos will also now have a semi-transparent advertisement at the start, which viewers will be unable to remove or minimise.

Patrick Walker, head of video partnerships at YouTube, says the company is "focused on developing YouTube into a viable commercial business capable of generating revenue from ads".

US comedy series National Lampoon was announced as one of the most popular clips on YouTube last month, prompting its creators to call it "the most widely recognized brand in comedy".