YouTube Adds Click-to-Buy Links on Some U.S. Videos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 8, 2008 - 8:14am.

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has begun placing links to purchase music and games on the pages of related videos on its site in the U.S., with initial partners that include Amazon (NASD: AMZN) MP3, Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, record label EMI and game developer Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS). The "click-to-buy" links to purchase media at Amazon's MP3 store and Apple's iTunes Store can currently be found on pages for music videos by EMI artists, and pages related to Electronic Arts' new universe-building game, "Spore."

The company said it will also target the new e-commerce feature to customers of its Content ID system, which identifies when copyrighted materials are uploaded by users.

Instead of asking YouTube to remove the content, copyright owners can now add links to purchase their offerings, in addition to being able to monetize the user-generated posts with advertising.

"This is just the beginning of building a broad, viable eCommerce platform for users and partners on YouTube," the company said in a blog post.

"Our vision is to help partners across all industries -- from music, to film, to print, to TV -- offer useful and relevant products to a large, yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos."

http://snipurl.com/46qf3 (AP)

Published in DMW Daily, October 8, 2008

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Comments

One man shop beats YouTube to Amazon punch

Submitted by Randy O (not verified) on October 8, 2008 - 10:43am.

Well I was hoping to beat YouTube to the punch on making an announcement. I have been developing this on my site http://NowScene.com. It seemed only logical for YouTube which is now becoming the place for artists to get exposure, to incorporate links for people to purchase MP3s. I show a link to Amazon next to every live music video I display. Works pretty well. But because the video title also contains location information. I inform my customers to click the link then remove any extra text from the artist information for better results. But I will make improvements in the future. More power to YouTube's success with this. I certainly believe in the concept since I developed this too. More improvements in the future since this the site is still early stage. But I wanted it documented that I did this first before YouTube made their announcement today. -Randy O Founder http://NowScene.com

It seemed only logical for

Submitted by Sell Links (not verified) on February 22, 2009 - 10:49pm.

It seemed only logical for YouTube which is now becoming the place for artists to get exposure, to incorporate links for people to purchase MP3s. I show a link to Amazon next to every live music video I display. Works pretty well. But because the video title also contains location information. thanks.