SAN FRANCISCO: The increasing challenge posed by Facebook and other rivals to YouTube's command of online video advertising has been played down by the company's head of content and business operations.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Robert Kyncl said YouTube and its rivals would have plenty of space in which to grow as advertisers continue to shift their budgets to video.
With online video becoming mainstream, Kyncl said of Facebook's bid to earn more advertising revenue from the channel that "it will be a decade before we bump into each other".
Although speaking before Facebook's announcement last week that it will share ad revenue with video creators who use its site, Kyncl's confidence stemmed from a belief that content creators will always want to gain maximum exposure.
"If you're a content creator you want to publish on as many platforms as you can," he said. "Exclusivity is virtually impossible to pull off."
As YouTube continues with its tried-and-tested "pre-roll" video ad format, Facebook launched a "Suggested Videos" feed which, when clicked, intersperses video content with ads.
"Within suggested videos, we are running a monetisation test where we will show feed-style video ads and share revenue with a group of media companies and video creators," Facebook said in a statement.
Facebook plans to share up to 55% of ad revenue with selected video creators – the same split as offered by YouTube – although the exact share is reportedly based on how much time users spend watching videos.
But it is not clear yet whether that means users will have to watch the full ad, a creator's full video, or both, for a creator to make the maximum money.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Robert Kyncl said YouTube and its rivals would have plenty of space in which to grow as advertisers continue to shift their budgets to video.
With online video becoming mainstream, Kyncl said of Facebook's bid to earn more advertising revenue from the channel that "it will be a decade before we bump into each other".
Although speaking before Facebook's announcement last week that it will share ad revenue with video creators who use its site, Kyncl's confidence stemmed from a belief that content creators will always want to gain maximum exposure.
"If you're a content creator you want to publish on as many platforms as you can," he said. "Exclusivity is virtually impossible to pull off."
As YouTube continues with its tried-and-tested "pre-roll" video ad format, Facebook launched a "Suggested Videos" feed which, when clicked, intersperses video content with ads.
"Within suggested videos, we are running a monetisation test where we will show feed-style video ads and share revenue with a group of media companies and video creators," Facebook said in a statement.
Facebook plans to share up to 55% of ad revenue with selected video creators – the same split as offered by YouTube – although the exact share is reportedly based on how much time users spend watching videos.
But it is not clear yet whether that means users will have to watch the full ad, a creator's full video, or both, for a creator to make the maximum money.
Data sourced from Financial Times, BBC, Advertising Age; additional content by Warc staff
