You might notice a periodic module on the homepage called Spotlight Videos (if you don't, add it to your homepage). These run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme.

In 2010, we'll be using this blog to give you advanced notice of opportunities to be a part of these spotlights. At the top of each month, we'll reveal a list of themes, along with an exclusive tag you should place on any video you'd like to be considered for the spotlight. (Please note that themes and dates are subject to change and spotlights may be added or dropped without notice.) We can't promise your video will be part of the feature, but if it is we'll let you know via email and we hope you will join us in promoting its prominent position via any social media or marketing tools you regularly use to connect with your viewers, customers and fans.

With that, we'd like to share the list of some themes for January 2010:

1/1 -- Rejuvenation: tips for staying healthy & keeping those resolutions (tag: ytrejuvenation)
1/5 -- Phone music: videos of original tunes made on mobile phones (tag: ytphonemusic)
1/25 -- Video Volunteers: use your video-making skills for good. Submit a video for a charity supporting the arts (tag: ytvv)
1/27 -- Davos: Is there one issue facing the world today that you feel passionate about? Have you always wanted to take your cause directly to people who have the power to do something about it, but lacked access to have your voice heard? Now is your chance to make your pitch. Click here for more details. (tag: ytdavos)

Got an idea for a theme we haven't mentioned above? Leave a comment below and we'll consider adding it to our calendar.

Thanks!

Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Editorial/Community

It's been a busy year for the YouTube Partnerships team. We've been working hard to bring you the videos you want to watch, and to date we have signed well over 10,000 partners. These partners include Hollywood studios and TV networks like Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Turner, Discovery, ESPN and Showtime; new media partners like Demand Media, Next New Networks and Mondo Media; and user partners like Fred, Ryan Higa and Michael Buckley, each of whom is making a living off of the YouTube platform. 

Our number one business goal at YouTube is to help video creators make money from their content online. Last year was the most successful year on record from a partner advertising revenue standpoint. In light of this progress, we wanted to list out some of the more memorable partner-related moments of 2009. In no particular order, here they are:

• Shows and Movies come to YouTube: This launch brought thousands of classic full-length TV episodes and hundreds of full-length movies to YouTube, including Ghostbusters, Taxi Driver, Bram Stoker's Dracula and the Spaghetti Western Trilogy.
  
  
• User-partners experience unprecedented success: Hundreds of YouTube user partners are making thousands of dollars a month on YouTube, but there is a small group whose growth is truly remarkable. Fred, NigaHiga, Smosh and Shane Dawson have each exceeded over a million subscribers, and Fred now has more views than the entire population of the U.S. NigaHiga's short film, "Ninja Melk," released in August of this year generated over a million views in less than a week.
  
  
• Large entertainment players join the platform: Among the major short- and long-form content deals signed in 2009 were Disney, Turner, Warner Bros., Univision, the UK's C4 and Channel 5. In the world of music we continued to offer content from all four major record labels -- UMG, Sony Music, EMI and Warner Music -- and worked to play our part in the historic VEVO launch
  
  
• New generation of media companies emerge: Companies like Demand Media, Machinima and Mondo Media have surpassed the half-billion view mark as they built out rich portfolios of videos, channels and brands. These companies have a loyal following on YouTube and have set themselves apart as the "new media powerhouses" of the future through their forward-thinking acquisition and distribution strategy
  
  
• Viral videos get monetized:  Over the summer we expanded the YouTube Partnership Program to include individual popular videos, meaning that users are invited to monetize one-off viral videos and profit from their success on YouTube. One of the stand-out successes of this program so far is  "David After Dentist," a video that's generated over $30k for the uploader
  
  
• Live music rocks the community: This year saw live-streamed events from the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, U2 at the Rose Bowl in L.A., and Alicia Keys' intimate World AIDS Day concert in NYC. U2 especially impressed: broadcast to 140 countries, the concert racked up a total of 10mm streams, making it the most successful live-streaming event in YouTube history
  
  
• Film is released simultaneously in theaters, on TV and on YouTube: Famed French producer and director Luc Besson experimented with an innovative distribution strategy for his environmentally conscious film "Home", which, on YouTube alone, went on to generate 7mm views in 6 weeks.
  
  
• Strong adoption of Content ID: Over 1,000+ partners today are using our copyright management technology, Content ID, including every major U.S. network broadcaster, movie studio and record label. Content ID scans over 100 years of content a day and over 50% of our partners choose to monetize their content on YouTube, effectively turning what was one of their biggest challenges -- illegal use of their content -- into a user-friendly, efficient source of revenue and marketing insight.
  
  
• Uruguayan filmmaker lands multi-million dollar deal based on YouTube clip: Federico Alvarez Mattos' special-effects-laden YouTube video, "Ataque de Panico (Panic Attack!) 2009," caught the eye of Hollywood bigwigs, who offered him a seven-figure deal to bring his talents to the large screen under the tutelage of director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man).
  
  
• Screening Room film wins an Emmy: Josh Raskin's "I Met the Walrus" was one of the first short films featured in the YouTube Screening Room, YouTube's platform for independent film content. Featuring dazzling animation set to an intimate interview with John Lennon, it's been raking in the accolades since its premiere in 2008. The latest award was a Daytime Emmy for New Approaches.
   

It's been an exciting year, to say the least. We can't wait to see what the next one has in store. 

Posted by David Eun, Vice President of Content Partnerships

Top news from the site this month:

1. The "YouTube revolution" grips Iran
As conflict flares up again in Iran, YouTube continues to provide a window into what ordinary citizens are experiencing on the ground. These videos are the voice of the people — unfiltered, unedited and with a single, sometimes disturbing point of view. Read more in our blog.

2. What you watched and searched for in 2009
For the first time we shared our official Most Watched lists and some of the fastest-rising search terms on YouTube. If you haven't seen the lists yet (over half a million people have already checked them out), click here.

3. Most memorable videos of the year
Sponsored by Samsung, this channel features an advent-calendar-style countdown revealing some of the don't-miss clips uploaded in '09. Use it as a cheat sheet to get up-to-speed on the core people and videos that defined YouTube this year.

4. Unknown filmmaker gets Hollywood funding
Uruguayan filmmaker Federico Alvarez Mattos recently made headlines when his special-effects-laden YouTube video, "Ataque de Panico (Panic Attack!) 2009," caught the eye of Hollywood bigwigs, who offered him $30 million to bring his talents to the large screen under the tutelage of director Sam Raimi. Hear about his experience firsthand in the Creator's Corner blog.

5. Viral Video of the Month...
...is of this irresistibly cute 5-year-old uke player from Japan.

Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Editorial/Community

In the past few months, American Apparel has run several campaigns on YouTube to promote some of the company's lesser-known lines, from swimwear to kids clothing. Our personal favorite is a campaign they recently ran targeted to pet content on YouTube -- including the famous (or maybe infamous) "Skateboarding Dog" video.

In this interview, Ryan Holiday, Marketing and Web Strategist at American Apparel, talked to us about the company's overall marketing goals, the importance of being playful, and, of course, dogs on skateboards.

1. Why did you want to target American Apparel ads to videos of dogs on skateboards?

It started when we were looking for dance websites and it turned out that there weren't that many -- at least ones that fit our audience. But there are a lot of great dance videos. Awesome ones, actually. So we started designing ads for the American Apparel DANCE line and targeted them to our favorite ballet, aerobics and dance videos. At the same time, we realized that a lot of people don't know that you can buy American Apparel for your pet because it's a hard thing to advertise for, so we started looking for pet videos. "Skateboarding Dog" is obviously an iconic YouTube video, but there are so many other really cute pet ones out there. The same goes for videos like "Charlie Bit My Finger," which felt like a great place to introduce the American Apparel Kids line. Fun parents are the reason it got popular and that's what our line is about. Our Sesame Street shirts will hopefully go next to Sesame Street videos and so on.


2. How do you measure the success of this campaign?

AdWords lets you track view-through orders, so that's one metric. Considering that the alternatives are tactics like site retargeting or large network buys, or in this case children's or pet-owners' magazines, just being able to do advertising that is playful and appreciated by the people seeing it sort of makes it successful regardless.

3. What did you learn and how has it informed other campaigns you've run on YouTube?

You should be on the sites your employees and fans are on. The second we started picking YouTube videos, employees from all over the world began sending in links of videos they thought we should be on. Striking a nerve like that lets you know that you might have something special.

4. How does your YouTube campaign fit within your larger marketing strategy?

It fits into its own little pocket. You have marketing that is about a message or the brand, and you have marketing that pushes new products or events. This is something that's a combination of that. People on YouTube are looking to discover things and hopefully our ads help them do that.

5. What's your favorite YouTube video?

We're partial to the Larry Flynt deposition from the Falwell lawsuit.

Posted by Lane Shackleton, Product Specialist

Many thanks to graphic designer Patrick Mullane for our new logo.

It took some time, but people have learned how to build audiences, create brands and make money on YouTube. Michael Buckley and Fred were among the first to reach six figures and invent brands through their YouTube series. NigaHiga makes a living producing videos from his home and Don't Forget To Be Awesome Records was founded by two guys who understood the value of the musicians releasing music on YouTube. Now Next New Networks has figured out how to develop businesses like these over and over again.

For the past three years, Next New Networks has worked hard to make some of the most dynamic channels on YouTube, including BarelyPolitical, Channel Frederator and Threadbanger. Now they've launched the Next New Creators program, which is designed to uncover and promote the next big Web series. They will partner with up-and-coming independent creators to distribute, promote, package and monetize their shows that currently appear on YouTube.

Next New Networks has already proven that they know a thing or two about web series. They've been working with independent producers since early 2009, helping turn many online shows into hits like "Auto-Tune The News" and "Beyond The Trailer." This new program will act much like a venture capital firm, investing resources into potential businesses to create a new wave of high-quality series and brands on YouTube.

Interested creators can sign up here.

Congrats to Next New Networks on their launch!

Posted by Kevin Yen, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Melissa Crounse, Strategic Partner Manager

More than 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, made by everyone from major media companies right down to your next door neighbor. Two years ago, we created the YouTube Partner Program to recognize and reward those resourceful individuals who managed (or had the potential) to parlay an interest in video into a meaningful career.

Today, many partners are earning real dollars from their videos. Some users have quit their jobs to concentrate on YouTube full-time, including several who make six figures a year from the site. The program has sprouted in more than 10 countries and our user partners now generate more monetized views per week than some sites generate in a month.

We want to pause for a minute to thank each and every one of our partners who have dedicated their time and talent to creating amazing content for the entire world to enjoy. It's been humbling to watch the evolution from first upload to major achievements like:

• Fred's videos have been viewed more than 400 million times (more than the population of the United States), and he will star in a feature film
• Ryan Higa is the most subscribed channel on YouTube, with more than 1.6 million subscribers
• Lauren Luke (panacea81) launched a makeup line
• Brownbagfilms' animated video has been shortlisted for the 2010 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film
• DerrickComedy team used YouTube revenue to self-finance a feature film
• Others have earned such awards as a Tech Award in Education, Digista Award in Japan, and the distinction of being one of TIME's 50 best inventions of 2009

Our YPP partners have a unique understanding of how to engage their audiences and connect with people through video, and that is at the heart of their success. They are an inspiration to the YouTube community at large and they define what we mean by community itself.

This is still just the beginning of the YouTube Partner Program and we look forward to many more success stories -- and many more partners -- in 2010 and beyond.

Posted by Shenaz Zack, Product Manager

This post is the third of a series highlighting the inspiration and execution behind some of the more innovative and successful custom advertising programs on YouTube. Check out Part One and Part Two of the series. -Ed.

A common theme we've seen in the campaigns we've highlighted is the interaction and conversation between users and advertisers. Whether producing episodic content, integrating social media such as Twitter, giving users a chance to earn fame and prizes, or simply a conversation with their favorite YouTube celebrity, they have strongly engaged the user community. We've been talking about the importance of engagement ever since the first major ad campaigns on YouTube, and there's a reason for it. Engagement leads to better brand recognition and general ad performance.

Lesson #3: Allow Users to Take Your Campaign and Run With It

Carl’s Jr. (CKE Restaurants) is well-known for its sense of humor and edgy television advertising -- who can forget the TV spot they ran in 2005, featuring a scantily clad Paris Hilton soaping up a Bentley and digging into a Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger? For the launch of their new Portobello Mushroom Burger, CKE tapped into a new kind of celebrity to showcase their product: popular YouTube users.

The nine homegrown YouTube celebrities enlisted by CKE each created humorous, light-hearted takes on how they would dig into Carl's Jr.'s new Portobello Mushroom Burger. These YouTube stars also encouraged their aggregate fan base of nearly 4 million loyal followers to upload videos showing how they would enjoy the new burger. This campaign echoed far and wide amongst Carl’s target audience, resulting in nearly 10 million views for all of the videos.

iJustine, or Justine Ezarik

Not only did the campaign create a dialogue and sense of community around a new product, but sales of Portobello Mushroom Burger doubled from the period before the launch of the campaign on YouTube. The campaign also won an OMMA award this year in the “Best in Show” category.

Carl’s Jr. is not the only example of a brand extending its campaign to users and encouraging them to make videos themselves. HP also extended their “Hands” commercials to the YouTube community for their recent "You on You" campaign.

HP You on You Project

The campaign contained a simple and engaging call-to-action video that asked YouTube users in 21 different countries to create a video that expressed who they are -- but without revealing their faces. Previously, HP “Hands” commercials were filmed with stars such as Jerry Seinfeld or Pharrell, but this contest allowed a worldwide audience to participate in HP’s iconic campaign. HP also featured a webcam application and a remixer tool (allowing users to create their own videos using pre-made content from HP) on the HP brand channel, to make the creative and sharing process easier for contestants. It clearly worked, because the results were phenomenal: the "You on You" channel received thousands of entries and more than 2.5 million views from people in 175 countries.

Many of the campaigns in this blog series have empowered users to participate in a dialogue with brands, and sometimes even own elements of YouTube campaigns themselves. Together they've earned three OMMA Awards and a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. As the largest online video destination in the world, YouTube is full of ways like these for advertisers to engage users and break new ground in the digital world.

Posted by Jane Yu, Sales Development

The eagerly awaited James Cameron movie, AVATAR, comes to our screens next week and YouTube has some very good reasons to count down the seconds.

Twentieth Century Fox has given three YouTube power users red carpet access to tonight's world premiere in London's West End. DaveyBoyz, Paperlilies and WhatAboutAdam will be putting their video-making skills to good effect as they soak up the excitement around the AVATAR event. Following their red carpet experience they will be off to Fox's editing suite to turn their exclusive footage from the night into a final cut fit for the film's official channel on YouTube.

AVATAR will also run ads on the YouTube homepage in a record 15 countries one day later, reaching millions of YouTube users around the world. The AVATAR ad will link to footage from the premiere, help users identify their nearest cinema using Google Maps, and drive traffic to AVATAR content from Twitter and Facebook.

Twentieth Century Fox hopes that providing the YouTube community with exclusive access to the film's world premiere and engaging related content on the homepage will give millions of people worldwide the opportunity to be a part of the AVATAR phenomenon first hand.



Posted by James Cashmore, Head of Entertainment, YouTube U.K.

Promoted Videos continue to expand around the world, launching today in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Promoted Videos are now available in 16 countries, helping advertisers worldwide easily and effectively increase views of their videos on YouTube.

We've already seen some great campaigns since we launched in several countries in October:

• Australia: Mitsubishi Motors showcased the technology -- like bluetooth and iPod support -- integrated into the new Mitsubishi Outlander.
• Germany: Maskworld.com prepared for Halloween by promoting a video of 2008's Zombie Walk in Berlin.
• Japan: Pop star Ayuse Kozue promoted the release of her new album.
• U.K.: Foot Locker drove viewers to watch one of the more creative commercials we've seen about, well, shoes.

As advertisers around the world start investing in online video, we want to make sure that they have the ability -- no matter where they are -- to reach YouTube's audience with their content in a highly targeted way. We hope to roll out Promoted Videos to additional countries early next year.

Posted by Jay Akkad, Product Manager

Every day millions of people come to YouTube to watch some of the biggest names in music; stars like Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and U2. Today we are happy to launch VEVO, a video site devoted exclusively to music and powered by YouTube. This new destination hopes to redefine the way people watch and engage with music online, as well as change the way the digital and music industries do business with each other. The partnership blends Google and YouTube's leading technology with material from a broad catalog of top artists from Universal Music Group, Sony Music and EMI. Advertisers will also be able to take advantage of a vast library of premium music content both on YouTube and VEVO.com.

VEVO videos will be available on VEVO.com and on YouTube.com via a VEVO-branded watch page. This new kind of "branded watch page" will pioneer the way for other partners; we'll test to see if this more eye-catching treatment impacts engagement with the content and if it does, we'll consider rolling it out more widely.

Here's Rihanna welcoming you to the site:



Posted by Chris Maxcy, Director of Content Partnerships

This post is the second of a series highlighting the inspiration and execution behind some of the more innovative and successful custom advertising programs on YouTube. See the first part of the series here. -Ed.

While LVCVA’s “Vegas Bound” campaign had its unique strengths, a great campaign with a strong user and community element doesn’t always have to be a full-fledged brand channel. Recently Volvo and Sprint ran two very successful campaigns that promoted product information, incorporated an interactive game and social media, and compiled user-generated content into a dazzling montage -- all within a single homepage masthead unit.

Lesson #2: Showcase Users’ Contributions

For the launch of the XC60, Volvo’s first crossover vehicle, Volvo took over the YouTube homepage with a rich media unit that housed videos, photos, and a game that showcased the vehicle’s unique City Safety feature. Best of all, the unit incorporated a dynamic Twitter feed that highlighted user feedback upon seeing or test-driving the vehicle at the New York Auto Show. By broadcasting these tweets, Volvo’s masthead allowed auto-enthusiasts and XC60 fans to share their thoughts with YouTube's large audience.

Campaign developed by Volvo, Euro RSCG Worldwide, MediaContacts

This campaign was groundbreaking in that it was one of the first advertisers to take over the YouTube homepage with an expandable masthead ad, and the masthead was the first to feature a Twitter integration. Within the course of 24 hours, the masthead garnered 38 million impressions, 17,000 hours of brand engagement and an 8.66% interaction rate, which is nearly double the advertising industry's benchmark. Along with LVCVA’s “Vegas Bound” campaign, the Volvo XC60 Masthead also won an OMMA Award this year for the best Integrated Online Campaign in the Automotive category, great recognition for an ad that was informative and entertaining and promoted the brand’s social presence.

Another great example of an advertiser showcasing user engagement within a single ad unit is Sprint’s “Now Network” homepage masthead. The premise of the idea revolved around a digital “human clock” composed of user-generated visualizations of each number.

Campaign developed by Sprint, Goodby Silverstein & Partners

This masthead unit exemplified collaboration, with the end goal of providing users the current time albeit with a surprising aesthetic in the human digital clock. Most importantly, it quickly transported users from their home cameras to the homepage, providing users with instant gratification and demonstrating the product’s advertised speed.

Here’s how it worked: The masthead granted a number to all users who wanted to participate, who were allowed to visualize this number in their own unique ways. Some users scrawled the numbers on a sheet of paper and held them up to the camera, many used their fingers, and others used images. Then, the numbers were mixed and matched to form a “human clock” within the masthead unit.

As time passed and entries flooded in, the user-generated videos changed in response. The limitations were only the audience’s imagination, and just about anyone with a computer and a camera could submit an entry using the webcam gadget within the ad unit itself. The barriers to entry were low, and the reward for participation was high, as participants could earn a chance to be a part of a “human clock” right on the YouTube homepage and seen by millions of people.

Sprint’s “Now Network” campaign took home a Gold Lion at the 56^th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival as the top Integrated Campaign this year, as well as four Silver Lions and a Bronze Lion in the Digital Category.

The success of Volvo and Sprint’s homepage ads prove that a combination of creativity and rich media technology can allow a campaign to be both thorough and succinct, as long as it speaks to its users and allows them to speak back.

Posted by Jane Yu, Sales Development

First, a big thanks to Alicia Keys and all her fans around the world who tuned in to make the R&B star's first live-streamed concert on YouTube a big success. Presented by American Express, the concert was our first live, high-definition streamed show, generating over 3.7 million streams to nearly 170 countries. Here are some additional stats:

• There were over 1 million unique views of Alicia's channel throughout the day of the performance. The channel's archived concert footage has over 2.7 million views and rising.

• Alicia's channel views the day of the concert were 100x the average of her channel's views prior to the event.

• Tens of thousands of comments and tweets about the show in real time drove #amexalicia to the #2 Twitter Trending Topic within 14 minutes of the show's opening.

• American Express donated 100% of the sold-out ticket proceeds to Alicia's charity, "Keep a Child Alive."

• Last week, directly after the concert, pre-orders for Alicia's new album pushed it to the 10th most popular album on iTunes, and it doesn't hit stores until Dec 15.

We are constantly working to create new ways for our partners to promote their content, connect with a global audience, and generate meaningful revenue. Given the growing success of live-streamed events on YouTube, we're working hard to line up even more events so we can better connect fans from around the world with the moments that matter most to them.

If you missed the concert, you can still watch it on YouTube:



Posted by Nikhil Chandhok, Senior Product Manager

What *else* went down on the site, aside from people searching for "Tiger Woods"?

1. YouTube Direct: Now media orgs can easily rebroadcast UGC clips
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. Enter YouTube Direct, a new tool that allows media companies to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users. Built from our APIs, this open-source application lets media orgs enable customized versions of YouTube's upload platform on their own websites. Read more about it here.

2. 1080p launches
YouTube's HD mode now supports viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our maximum output of 720p. For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience. Compare the difference in resolution in this blog announcement.

3. Iraqi government comes to YouTube
On November 25, the Iraqi government launched a YouTube channel at youtube.com/iraqigov, joining other governments, heads of state, and leaders from around the world, including the Pope, the Royal Family, and Queen Rania, and presidents from the United States, France, South Korea and Estonia. Learn more in this video from Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

4. Auto-Tune it!
Auto-Tune is a proprietary voice processor that makes anyone sound like a smooth hip-hopper (T-Pain, to be exact) and it's become a huge phenomenon on YouTube. For the scoop on how it came to be, ROCKETBOOM recruited "Weird Al" Yankovic to provide this entertaining history of the meme. Speaking of which: subscribe to the Gregory Brother's "Auto-Tune the News" channel, a classic of the genre.

5. Gonzo et al. go gangbusters
Muppets + Queen = Viral hit. Enjoy the video already consumed 9 million times: presenting..."The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody."



Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager

Much of our recent work at YouTube has focused on making it easy for advertisers and agencies to run integrated, targeted and measurable campaigns across the internet. This has involved a lot of product, sales and back-end integration with Google products (like AdWords and TV ads), so we can build easy-to-use, scalable options for advertisers on YouTube.

Today we're taking another step in this direction, by allowing advertisers to start testing a new Video Targeting tool on YouTube. Video Targeting is modeled after similar Google planning tools and pretty much does what it says: it gives advertisers more control of their ad campaigns by letting them choose specific YouTube partner content they'd like to target. The tool is flexible and helps advertisers discover videos relevant to their campaign and their target audience: it suggests videos based on keywords (like politics or fashion), viewer demographics (like age and gender), interest-based categories, or some combination of the three. Or, if an advertiser has a video in mind, they can see if it's available to target specifically. The result is a marketplace of video targeting options that results in extra control and better brand safety for display advertisers, and more useful and relevant ads on YouTube.


Our goal is to create an easy-to-use, self-service targeting tool for any advertiser who wants to run ads on YouTube. As this first version is in beta (and is being updated every day), it's missing a few features, as well as content from some of our partners -- like those who sell their own ads, for example. So it's currently intended for advertisers who work closely with sales representatives at YouTube. But if you want a sneak peek, you can check it now out at www.google.com/videotargeting.

At YouTube, we believe there is an advertiser for every video, and vice versa. Yes, even for videos of dogs on skateboards.

Posted by Nick Jakobi and Baljeet Singh, Product Managers

In the almost three years I've spent working at YouTube, I've been asked a lot of things. But among the most common questions I've heard are:

• Are visitors on YouTube valuable for marketers?
• How effective are campaigns on YouTube at driving brand engagement?
• What are the common qualities of successful homepage ads on YouTube?
• Can advertisers effectively promote their brand to social media users?

They are incredibly important questions, and we've done a lot of work to find some answers. For example, we've found that users who were exposed to homepage ads were up to four times more likely than control users to take action related to the brand, such as performing branded search queries or visiting advertisers' sites. Also, ad format matters: YouTube users who were exposed to masthead homepage ads were more likely to engage with the brand than were users exposed to other ad formats on the homepage.

And that's just a portion of what we've studied and found. Next Tuesday, YouTube and Compete are hosting a webinar to answer these questions and more, revealing how advertisers are using paid media on the YouTube homepage to drive engagement with their brand.

We will share benchmark data from over 140 advertisers and case studies that sheds light on best practices for using the YouTube homepage to foster brand engagement. The webinar will feature several examples of recent successful campaigns, including those for a movie studio, a video game manufacturer, a major automotive brand and a major CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturer.

The webinar is scheduled for December 8, 2009 at 2pm EST and will run approximately 45 minutes, followed by a 15-minute question and answer session. Please click here to register, and we look forward to having you join us!

Posted by Leah Spalding, Advertising Research Manager, YouTube

Google’s user-experience motto is, “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” This also rings true for great YouTube advertising programs: converse with your consumers, and all else will follow.

YouTube, as a video platform, provides advertisers with the ability to connect directly with their consumers, helping them start and sustain dynamic conversations through video. In the past few months, a few advertising programs have really caught our eye, for the ways they humanized their consumers, rewarded them for their engagement, and showcased their creative contributions.

This post is the first in an ongoing series that explores the inspiration and execution behind some of the more innovative and successful custom advertising programs on YouTube.

Lesson #1: Entertain and Reward Users

The success of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s (LVCVA) “Vegas Bound” campaign shows that even though media can drive users to a destination, keeping user interest depends on how an advertiser can enhance user satisfaction upon arrival – whether its through sheer entertainment value, a sense of community, or a suite of prizes.

LVCVA did just that and more: In a voyeuristic twist on their 2003 campaign tagline, “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” LVCVA’s 2009 “Vegas Bound” campaign made stars of everyday Americans by sending them to Vegas and sharing their adventures with a worldwide audience on YouTube. LVCVA then complemented the webisodes with a YouTube contest where users could explain why they need a trip to Vegas for a chance to earn their own well-deserved vacation.

Campaign developed by LVCVA, R&R Partners

Although the “Vegas Bound” campaign kicked off in January 2009 during difficult economic times, it was successful in accomplishing LVCVA’s objectives: in the months following the campaign’s launch, web traffic to VisitLasVegas.com increased by 6%, and referrals to hotel properties were up 36%. Not only did LVCVA reach their metrics, but “Vegas Bound” also won an OMMA award this year as the best integrated online campaign in the Travel category.

There are many laudable traits of the “Vegas Bound” campaign, but its most remarkable accomplishment was this: It allowed a small group of hard-working Americans from Cranfills Gap, Texas, a town of only 358 people, to share some of their most exciting moments with an online community of over 600,000. LVCVA granted a lucky few this priceless experience, and “Vegas Bound” allowed users from around the world to share in it, from start to finish. Now, that’s the ultimate reward.

Posted by Jane Yu, Sales Development