On Thursday, November 26, at 5 p.m. (UK time), the European partnerships team is holding a Webinar designed to help partners better manage their accounts and uploads. Here's the rundown:

What: A 20-25 minute presentation where YouTube partner team specialists will share some useful information on how to boost your video views and increase your earnings. They'll also go over new product features and share best practices and innovative ways to attract visitors to your channel and content.

At the end of the session, there will be a 15-minute Q&A session with all Webinar participants. This is the perfect chance to ask a YouTube specialist any questions you may have about the Partner Program.

When: This Thursday, November 26, at 5 p.m. UK time. (That's 9 a.m. PT or 12 p.m. ET -- we know it's a holiday in the U.S., but anyone is welcome to join this session.)

How: To register for the event, click here. Once you have clicked the link you will be redirected to an external page provided by our partner, Webex. On this Webex page, you will find information about the event and what to expect. Please fill the required information (name, surname, email address and YouTube username) and click "Submit." You'll then be all set and registered for the Webinar.

What if you can't make it or miss it? Don't worry. We understand our users are in various time zones or might not be able to make this time. We record all Webinars so that anyone who missed it can catch up any time. This talk, as well as our previous partner Webinars, can be found on the official YouTube Partner Support channel.

We hope you are ready to see how you can start earning more with YouTube and will participate in this session. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Posted by Timur Sultanov, UK Partner Team Specialist

In 1969, man first stepped foot on the moon, so, it was only a matter of time before we were able to get babies to rollerblade. Luckily for us, BETC EURO RSCG advertising agency were on hand to film the first breed of "Roller Babies" as part of their ad campaign for Evian water, and we are thrilled that the news has traveled all the way to the record books. In the last week, the phenomena that is "Roller Babies" has been officially awarded a Guinness World Record for "the most viewed online advertisement."

The ad campaign was launched exclusively on YouTube in July, with homepage ads in six countries around the world. Since then, it's been a smash hit, and has proven the value of making big bets on our site. We've learned from previous campaigns that paid views -- like YouTube homepage ads or Promoted Videos -- can drive organic views, and branding research conducted by Nielsen in France found that the advertising campaign was the key catalyst in building brand equity and sending the video viral. Nielsen also found that 80% of those who saw the ad on YouTube in France and in the US considered discussing it, and 2/3 wanted to share it with friends. And using YouTube Insight, Evian discovered that the official French version of the online video ad received over 60% of its views from outside France, proving that creativity travels far and wide on YouTube.

At YouTube we love creativity, but we especially enjoy when data confirms that creativity works.

Posted by Gianni Pulli, Industry leader, France

"I Met the Walrus" was one of the first short films featured in the YouTube Screening Room, YouTube's platform for great independent film content. Featuring dazzling animation set to an intimate interview with John Lennon, it's been raking in accolades since its premiere in 2008. The latest award? A Daytime Emmy for New Approaches. The award-winning "network"? YouTube.

In this interview, director Josh Raskin discusses filmmaking and distribution in the digital age.

1. You've been nominated for an Oscar and "I Met the Walrus" is the first YouTube video to win an Emmy. How do you think about film (or video) before you start a project?

I really don't think much about film or video before starting a project. I worry about the idea, and then use whatever medium will best communicate that idea. In this case, the idea was to show literal interpretations of John's words flowing into each other, the way they might have appeared inside the head of an overwhelmed 14-year-old kid. Animation seemed like the best way to do that without a huge budget and really flexible actors.

2. What role does YouTube play in the promotion and distribution of your work?

YouTube is the main way people see our film. Outside of film festivals and TV specials, there aren't a lot of places short films can be seen. The internet is the only format with a short enough attention span. By allowing anyone with a computer and an internet connection to watch your film and spread it around, YouTube puts promotion in the hands of the people. Which is really the best possible system. It means the things that get watched most are the things people want to see, as opposed to the things with the most money behind them.

3. Are you seeing a sea change in how young filmmakers are thinking about creating and distributing their work?

The fact that anyone can make and distribute a film for next to no money has really leveled the playing field. Anyone with an idea and a bit of passion can put a film out. Everyone's a filmmaker. Some people just haven't done it yet.

4. You have a very distinct style of filmmaking. Have you seen an impact for your work on mainstream media?

We've definitely noticed echoes of our style in mainstream stuff. But our film borrows so much from everywhere that it becomes really difficult to draw those lines. Everything is inspired by other things. But the goal should be to do something new with those things, rather than just imitate them.

5. Do you approach Web filmmaking, or your online audience, any differently than you would approach traditional filmmaking and distribution?

Making a film is such an intensely personal process for me that by the time it's done, the fact that anyone sees it seems like a miracle. But I don't approach projects differently based on the audience. The truth is, whether it's online or in a theater, you never have any idea who's wataching your fim. I think as long as I'm making things that I care about, the rest will ssort itself out.

Posted by Nate Weinstein, YouTube Entertainment Team

Every day, people with video cameras are changing the ways we get our news. We see it during elections. We see it during earthquakes, fires and other natural disasters. We see it on our freeways, in our schools and in our public spaces. Almost any event that takes place today has a chance of being captured on camera. As YouTube has become a global platform for sharing the news, media organizations have been looking for a good way to connect directly with citizen reporters on our site so they can broadcast this footage and bring it to a larger audience.

That's why we created YouTube Direct, a new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users. Built from our APIs, this open source application lets media organizations enable customized versions of YouTube's upload platform on their own websites. Users can upload videos directly into this application, which also enables the hosting organization to easily review video submissions and select the best ones to broadcast on-air and on their websites. As always, these videos also live on YouTube, so users can reach their own audience while also getting broader exposure and editorial validation for the videos they create.

Though we built YouTube Direct to help news organizations expand their coverage and connect directly with their audiences, the application is designed to meet any organization's goal of leveraging video content submitted by the community. Businesses can use YouTube Direct to solicit promotional videos, nonprofits can use the application to call-out for support videos around social campaigns and politicians can use the platform to ask for user-generated political commercials. The opportunities to use the tool are as broad as the media spectrum itself.

Already, we've seen ABC News, the Huffington Post, NPR, Politico, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and WHDH-TV/WLVI-TV in Boston using YouTube Direct. We look forward to seeing many more organizations to do the same.

To get started, visit youtube.com/direct.

Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News and Politics

(Click here to read this post in Spanish.)

Univision, the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast network in the U.S., is bringing a hefty stable of short- and long-form programming to YouTube, marking the first time any Univision programming is available on the Web outside of its own properties. This should be a boon to YouTube's Hispanic audience, which has grown 80% in the last year.

It's also one of YouTube's most comprehensive partnerships for full-length content to date. Expect to see programs from Univision's three networks -- Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision -- as well as unique footage from celebrity interviews and special events such as next year's "Premio Lo Nuestro a la Música Latina" (Lo Nuestro Latin Music Awards). In addition, Univision will be using our Content ID technology to track user engagement and monetize Univision content uploaded by YouTube users. Univision's content will be up on our site in the coming months so stay tuned.

Posted by Laura Lee, Strategic Partner Development Manager

La cadena de televisión de habla hispana más vista en los Estados Unidos, Univision, traerá a YouTube programación constante en formato largo y corto. Siendo ésta la primera vez que cualquier programación de Univision esté disponible en la Web, fuera de sus propiedades. La audiencia de habla hispana en YouTube, que ha crecido 80% en el último año, se beneficiará al tener dicho contenido disponible. De hecho, el acuerdo representa una de las asociaciones más integrales en cuanto a disponibilidad de contenido de larga duración hasta el día de hoy para YouTube.

Prepárate para ver programas de las tres cadenas de Univision -- Univision, TeleFutura y Galavisión -- así como contenido único de entrevistas hechas a celebridades, y eventos especiales como el evento: Premios 'Lo Nuestro' a la Música Latina (Lo Nuestro Latin Music Awards), del próximo año. Univision estará utilizando la tecnología de YouTube conocida como Content ID (identificación de contenido) para medir la participación de los usuarios con su contenido y monetizar material de ellos que haya sido subido por usuarios de YouTube. El contenido de Univision estará disponible en los meses por venir, mantente sintonizado.

Publicado por Laura Lee, gerente de desarrollo con socios estratégicos.

We are constantly working to find the right ads for the right content on YouTube, so as to create an experience that works for our users, partners, and advertisers. When we first tested in-stream ads in 2007, we learned that abandonment rates (especially for pre-rolls) were as high as 70%, and that users were far more likely to watch and engage with overlays. But over time we found that different kinds of content provide different experiences for viewers, and that in-stream ads work pretty well on certain videos, like clips from TV shows or full-length movies. We first launched in-stream ads last year, and we've continued to innovate and test different in-stream formats on YouTube (like user-choice pre-rolls).

Today, we've started a small test of skippable pre-rolls, which will allow users to choose whether or not they want to watch the ad that appears at the beginning of a video. (If they skip the ad, they'll go straight to the video.)


We know what you're thinking: who would choose to watch an ad when they can skip it? Well, that's what we're trying to find out. In our previous research, we've actually seen that lots of users will watch pre-rolls. Abandonment rates are affected by several factors, notably length and creative. When a pre-roll is only 15 seconds, we see completion rates as high as 85%. Also, creative matters a lot: the quality and relevance of the ad itself seems to have 3x the influence on abandonment online as it does on TV. Viewers online tend to be much more active in making choices about what they watch.

Skippable pre-rolls have the potential to solve this problem and create a win-win-win for everyone on YouTube. For users, this format gives them more control over their experience. For advertisers, we're working toward a solution where they pay for ads that users actually watch and engage with. And for partners, skippable ads attempt to minimize abandonment rates, helping them protect the audiences they've worked hard to build. We've learned from Promoted Videos that advertisers are often willing to pay more money for an engaged opt-in view, as opposed to a forced view like an in-stream ad, so this also has the potential to increase CPMs.

There's a lot about in-stream ads that we just don't know, which is why we're excited about this test. We hope to discover more about what works so we can help lead the industry towards a solution that benefits everyone. We'll let you know what we find out.


Posted by Jamie Kerns (Software Engineer), Lane Shackleton (Product Specialist), and Dan Zigmond (Technical Lead)

Lest you missed the some of the key happenings on YouTube last month:

1. One billion served
YouTube Co-Founder and CEO Chad Hurley wrote this state of the union post on the third anniversary of YouTube's acquisition by Google and reveals that YouTube streams over 1 billion video views per day.

2. Real-time comment search
This feature, being tested now in our incubator, allows you to find out what people are saying on YouTube about any topic in real time. The videos associated with each comment are also listed. More details here.

3. Millions tune in for U2 live at the Rose Bowl
It was the event the Internet was buzzing about. The concert (#u2webcast) trended on Twitter as people connected over the shared viewing experience. Even guitarist the Edge tweeted a photo from the stage. If you missed it, you can watch the full performance on U2's official YouTube channel.

4. Miley Cyrus Twitter rap
Miley Cyrus penned a playful rap and posted it to YouTube as a way of declaring that she's out...of Twitter. Over five million people have checked it out.

5. Don't take the escalator -- make music!
The most viewed video of the month was "Piano Stairs," about a staircase in a Stockholm subway that was retrofitted to look like piano keys and makes real sound. The video, which looks like it's part of a Volkswagen campaign, proves that if you make something fun you can change people's behavior. Nearly seven million people watched it on YouTube:



Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager

(Cross-posted from the YouTube blog.)

We're happy to welcome a comedy legend to YouTube today, as Will Ferrell's comedy think-tank Funny or Die joins YouTube as a partner. YouTube viewers around the world will now have access to a collection of Funny or Die classics, plus a steady stream of new videos being uploaded each week.

As comedy fans know, Funny or Die works with some of Hollywood's top comedic talent to create a trademark blend of humor, celebrity and web originals. Jack Black, Natalie Portman and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the famous names you can catch in hilarious Funny or Die sketches, and you never know who will show up next.

To celebrate this new partnership, Will Ferrell has selected his favorite Funny or Die clips for the spotlight on today's YouTube homepage. Here's a message from the man himself, and his Funny or Die co-creator Adam McKay:



Thanks, Will and Adam! So if you want to keep up with all things funny, "subscribe or die" to Funny or Die's new YouTube channel.

Posted by George Strompolos, Strategic Partnerships

Zappos.com has been in the news a lot lately -- from their recent acquisition by Amazon, to their strong and public commitment to customer service. Recently, Zappos was in the headlines once again for their innovative "world's fastest nudist" viral video campaign on YouTube. Aaron Magness, Director of Brand Marketing & Business Development, talked to us about Zappos' overall approach to video advertising.

1. What is Zappos' strategy behind video advertising across the Internet and TV?

Our primary goal is to grow awareness and drive new customer acquisition. One of the biggest challenges of getting your message out is being in front of the right people at the right time. By spreading your touch points across multiple forms of media, that ability increases.

2. Are there any specific facets of YouTube that work particularly well for your brand?

YouTube provides a platform that just about everyone is aware of and comfortable using. One of the core values of Zappos is “Do more with less." YouTube is a great way to do that.

3. How did you come up with the idea for your viral campaign about the "world's fastest nudist"?

Since we started as a shoe retailer, that’s what the majority of people think of us as. We are really trying to stretch their perception of who we are and what we represent, particularly in clothing. Given this goal, the idea was pitched to us by Agent 16. We thought it was a really funny idea and could make people laugh. They did a great job with it.

4. How do you measure the success of this campaign and your other video marketing efforts?

We weren’t looking for a huge ROI on this specific idea. The goal is to build long term awareness that people are talking about. We wanted to find a fun way to get the message out that we sell more than shoes, and I think this did that.

5. What's your favorite YouTube video?

There really are so many. “David after the dentist” comes to mind pretty quickly followed by “Boom goes the dynamite." Overall, the ones I like the most tend to be user generated and not overly produced.

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager