YouTube is still experimenting with new ways of monetizing its voluminous video content, and the newest addition has been a twist on post-roll advertising. Starting a few weeks ago, YouTube started posting video advertisements at the end of clips.
But unlike standard post-roll advertisements, these are linked to the overlay ads that run in most of YouTube's videos available with ads. Before, users were only directed to an online commercial if they clicked on the overlay ad in a video. Now, if a user does not click on the ad during the video, the video ad airs automatically at the end of the video.
This may seem to contradict Google's justification of overlay ads earlier this summer when they said that 75 percent of their viewers were dissatisfied with pre- and post-roll ads, but it looks more like a simple way to get a few eyeballs at otherwise ignored content. The new ads still only run on a small portion of videos, and even if the drop off rate is high, if a few people hang on to watch the previously promo'd ad at the end, it's still more viewers than would have seen the ads otherwise.
