Captioning is becoming increasingly important to YouTube and videos all across the web. Captions ensure that many more people can understand what's happening in your video, from deaf and hard of hearing viewers to people who speak a different language from you and choose to auto-translate the captions into their language. Captions also make your video a lot more discoverable. People searching for content on YouTube might encounter your video if your captions contain the words or subjects they're looking for.

You may be able to manage creating captions for your videos on your own, but sometimes you have too many videos or your video has elements that need special care. Today, thanks to support from the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP.org), we're pleased to roll out a new "YouTube Ready" designation for professional caption vendors in the United States. The YouTube Ready logo identifies qualified vendors who can help you caption your YouTube videos.


If you're interested in having your videos captioned, here's DCMP's current list of YouTube Ready vendors who may be able to help. Please keep in mind that participating vendors:

• Have passed a caption quality evaluation administered by the DCMP
• Have a website and a YouTube channel where you can learn more about their services (see playlist below)
• Have agreed to post rates for the range of services that they offer for YouTube content. Typical rates range from $2/minute for a transcript to $10/minute for full professional captions.

The first launch of the program includes 12 qualified vendors, with more to come. We're happy to have them on board, and hope they'll help to provide even more options for captioning your videos. If you're interested in finding a YouTube Ready caption vendor, check out our Help Center or visit DCMP's page.



Naomi Bilodeau, Caption Evangelist, recently watched "Deaf Mugger."

Last month we announced the launch of YouTube Partner Communication Hub, which is the go-to spot for news on the latest features, product updates and other partner-related information. Today we are excited to let you know we have revamped the “Optimization Resources” section of the site and have added a few new documents that will help you make the most of your presence on YouTube. Specifically, we have added resources which show you how to improve content discoverability, increase revenue potential and take full advantage of our Insight tool.



Going forward, we will regularly update the “Optimization Resources” section of the site with new tips and fresh insight -- so check back weekly. You can also opt to receive automatic updates via RSS by subscribing to the feed.

And, as always, let us know what you think!

Bengu Atamer, Sr. Strategist, Partnerships, recently watched “Kitten Wearing a Tiny Hat - Audition Outtakes.”

Google's Search Stories campaign had modest beginnings, but the world fell in (Parisian) love with it when one of the spots became Google's first-ever TV advertisement, airing during this year's Super Bowl. Since then, the campaign has been adopted by 150,000+ users who've made their own versions of the ad, and it's become a great example of how a brand can involve its audience in an ad campaign. The effort continues to evolve with the first co-branded Search Story spot, released last week to coincide with this week's opening of Toy Story 3. The video features a few characters you may well know and love (Buzz, Woody and the gang) sharing their own search story. Google's Robert Wong, Creative Director, tells us how the project came to be...

1. What was the genesis of the Search Stories campaign?

Search has become so commonplace in our lives and when you take a step back you can see that your searches are actually marking time. In kind of the same way that pictures or songs might, they tell the story of your life. We thought this was a pretty cool notion. Then, from there, it was a natural evolution to stringing some searches together to make a story. Because at the end of the day, the best search results don't just show up on a web page, they show up in someone's life.

2. Why Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story?

We got lucky. After doing a few of these we began to ask what would happen if we got people who are great storytellers to help. I had a friend at Pixar so we figured why not start at the top of the heap. Amazingly, they were into the idea.

3. Was it easy to meld creative/narrative visions?

They really could not have been nicer or more collaborative. Initially, we went out there to introduce ourselves and talk generally about working together. We also got to meet with some of the creatives behind Toy Story 3, who took us through the new movie. After that, we went back and came up with bunch of ideas to pitch to them. It was a lot fun getting to play around with those amazing characters they’ve created, but having just caught a glimpse of Toy Story 3 and it being such a major focus of theirs, it was a natural direction to go in. From there, it was a lot of good back and forth. We hit on a story we all liked pretty quickly and they gave us a lot of guidance with getting the characters right.

4. Tell us something about the video that no one would know just by looking at it.

I know some people have been surprised to hear that, aside from having the actor for the character Andy, John Morris, record “Hmmm,” we didn’t record anyone. It was all pick up dialogue from Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.


5. What’s your favorite moment from the video?

Hamm always cracks me up, but I love the Woody and Buzz moment. Woody’s laugh is so great, as is Buzz’s reaction to it.

After a successful Partner Meet-up in Chicago, we continued our YouTube Partner Meet-up roadshow with a stop in the Big Apple the first week of June. All NYC-based YouTube partners were invited, and over 150 were able to attend the event at the Google New York office. In addition to YouTube best practice presentations, networking time, and Q&A with our team, we were lucky enough to hear the inspiring stories of how some of our most subscribed partners found success on YouTube. The panel included:

• Michael Buckley, producer of WhatTheBuckShow
• Ben Relles, founder of BarelyPolitical
• Kevin Nalty, creator Nalts
• William Hyde, maker of TheWillofDC
  

From left to right: Michael Buckley, William Hyde, Ben Relles, and Kevin Nalty

Our panel shared many key insights with all of us; here are a few to share:

1. Keep at it! The YouTube platform is constantly changing. Regardless of the fluctuations you see in your subscribers or view counts, keep with it. Your hard work will pay off.
   
2. Talk to your audience, literally. Appreciate those who subscribe to you, interact with the YouTube community, and be sure to thank all of your loyal followers.
   
3. Be original, creative, and do what interests you. YouTube is a great platform for creativity. Continue to create the highest quality original content, and all else will follow.
   

Next Partner Meet-up Stop: Los Angeles

We’re excited about the upcoming Partner Meet-up in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 8. It’s being held on the front end of the VidCon online video conference, which is another great opportunity to learn more about the online video space and meet others in the industry. If you’re a YouTube partner traveling to Los Angeles for VidCon and interested in attending the YouTube Partner Meet-up, please complete this form to receive an invitation. We look forward to another great Partner Meet-up in Los Angeles!

Austin Lau, Strategic Partnerships, recently watched “Nike Football Write the Future”

The 14th Annual Webby Awards were held last night in New York City at Cipriani Wall Street, attracting the best and the brightest of the Internet. Viewers across the globe can get a taste of the evening’s festivities, including highlights, behind-the-scene footage, and 5-word winner speeches, on the Webby Awards YouTube Channel at youtube.com/webby.

To bring a unifying design to the stage and to the site, Tribal DDB New York, a digital marketing agency, created the overall look for the award show. They enlisted Shepherd Fairey’s Studio Number One and The Wade Brothers for creative graphic elements and an original film opener for the 14th Annual Webby Awards.

Now in its second year, the Webby Awards YouTube brand channel experience began with public voting for The Webby People’s Voice Awards. This year all the nominees for Online Film & Video were hosted on the Webby channel (they are still there for viewing now) and for the first time ever, viewers could vote for their favorites -- not just give a star rating -- right on the brand channel itself.

Footage from last night’s event also includes red carpet interviews with celebrities including Vint Cerf, host B.J. Novak’s opening monologue, all winners’ acceptance speeches, and much more including user-generated content from winners in attendance shot live at the event. Check out these clips and more at the Webby Awards YouTube Channel at youtube.com/webby.

Congratulations to all Webby Winners!

Deeksha Hebbar, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched 14th annual Webby Awards highlights.

YouTube is increasingly becoming a key advertising platform for marketers of all kinds, from new display advertisers to some of the biggest brands in the world. A common need for all advertisers is to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns beyond click-through rates or the basic number of impressions. This is especially true for video advertising, which can have a powerful, lasting brand effect beyond click-throughs or conversions.

Last year, Google AdWords launched Campaign Insights, a powerful tool that can give advertisers reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness, or active user interest, in a particular product or service. Campaign Insights compares the impact of a campaign on a large groups of users who were exposed to a display ad campaign with the impact on a similar group who were not exposed to the campaign. Specifically, it then calculates the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits -- a good indicator of advertising effectiveness. Our models are even sophisticated enough to identify the incremental lift that was specifically caused by the display campaign (as opposed to incidentally correlated.)

Today, we are now able to provide Campaign Insights results for some YouTube advertising campaigns that are reserved in advance (not bought in the AdWords auction). We can currently only measure the effects of relatively large campaigns, but we’re working hard to expand this opportunity to smaller campaigns as well.

Representative graph showing potential effect as measured by Campaign Insights:

Please contact your Google sales representative if you are interested in measuring the effectiveness of your YouTube campaign using Campaign Insights.

Peter Sherman, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “The Cove”

A bunch of you tagged videos that came in very handy for our Mother's Day and Pac-Man's birthday spotlights last month, so thanks for reading and contributing!

Now we're thinking about Spotlight Videos (if you don't see this module on your homepage, add it here) for the month of June. Spotlights run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme. Tag any appropriate and relevant video with the tags below to be considered for these spotlights, and please do so well before the date listed below. Please also note that themes and dates are subject to change and spotlights may be added or dropped without notice.

6/10 - World Cup: who's your team? what are your predictions? let's see what *you* can do with a soccer ball (tag: ytworldcup)
6/17 - E3: we're looking to feature the latest from this year's video game expo (tag: yte3)
6/20 - Father's Day: we've already got a curator for Father's Day set, but if you've got other dad-centric videos tag 'em for our Twitter stream (tag: ytdads)

Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Community, recently watched "Take a Look at My (Moo) Card."