Google Wants YouTube To Become a Shopping Destination

Every toy, gadget and good you see on YouTube could soon be for sale online -- not on Amazon, but right on YouTube itself. From a report The world's largest video site recently started asking creators to use YouTube software to tag and track products featured in their clips. The data will then be linked to analytics and shopping tools from parent Google. The goal is to convert YouTube's bounty of videos into a vast catalog of items that viewers can peruse, click on and buy directly, according to people familiar with the situation. The company is also testing a new integration with Shopify for selling items through YouTube. A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the company is testing these features with a limited number of video channels. Creators will have control over the products that are displayed, the spokesperson said. The company described this as an experiment and declined to share more details. The moves have the potential to transform YouTube from an advertising giant into a new contender for e-commerce leaders such as Amazon and Alibaba.

Just ADD QVC and be done with it

[Joe_Dragon]

Just ADD QVC and be done with it

Will make my shopping very convenient

[Headw1nd]

I can't wait to be able to buy directly from the bread bank. [youtube.com]

Not Surprised

[varrock]

I'm not surprised this is happening. It still makes me very sad to think the platform that once felt like authentic, raw footage is taking yet another step towards feeling like a substitute for TV. This is great for the influencers/creators on the YouTube platform, but unfortunately makes me as a viewer feel less connected to the video. YouTube is awesome when you feel like you are there with the creator and not the advertisers.

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[sound+vision]

There are still authentic channels, they're just getting drowned out by the noise, making them harder to discover via algorithm. I was going to suggest someone to curate a list of such channels, then realized how hard it would be since the channels are so narrowly focused. Maybe we need a large number of people indexing a large variety of channels in a hierarchical list, like the old-school Yahoo directory? Call it MetaTube? A nonprofit relief valve, shaped by human hands, to decrease our dependence on The

It would make perfect sense if it wouldn't be so a

[raymorris]

It would make perfect sense as a reasonable way to fund a free service, instead of relying solely on ads. For many videos, there is a relevant product or two. I watch how-to videos and the tools and materials used would be a natural fit.

It's too bad the advertisers will just take over and most of the videos will be straight up ads. Unless Google can pull some magic out of their butt to still have a decent ratio of worthwhile videos. They do a decent job of filtering through the six billion mostly worthles

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[rtb61]

They want you to watch an advertisement whilst you watch another advertisement and buy, buy, buy and forget about climate change, buy it, see the new model, throw the old model away and buy it again, rinse and repeat, Google the green company, :/.

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[slashdot_commentator]

I guess its better than being Amazon powered...

And even if not, the competition will be an improvement over an Amazon monopoly.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't this the essence of antitrust? Using your dominant position in one market to take over another market?

dark path

[Dale512]

I see Google is heading down the path to make YT unusable. I finally had to switch from watching YT on the Roku to the living room PC since the ads are absolutely out of control (no real luck blocking stuff via the Roku, but great success on PC). This is less user friendly (remote vs mouse) and results in less overall YT use. Adding in more ways to get in the way of what I'm after is just going to make it less relevant until they get to the point it is ignored completely.

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[transporter_ii]

They have really gone overboard after C-19. I hear ad rates are down. I also watch on my Roku. The one thing I wish they would do is, IF YOU WATCH A ENTIRE COMMERCIAL BEFORE A VIDEO, IT WOULD SKIP THE MID-ROLL ADS ON VIDEOS THAT WERE ONLY 10 - 15 MINUTES TO BEGIN WITH.

I could kind of understand something like a video that was an hour long. Two mid-roll ads in a fifteen minute video is just nuts.

They are really wanting people to subscribe. I'm not paying more for youtube videos than I would for NetFlix. I un

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[kbonin]

FWIW my standard practice on youtube for the last few years is to just rip the video, and watch it later without ads. And decide if its worth keeping or not.

Lets see if I understand this?

[oldgraybeard]

Google has near monopoly control of advertising, data acquisition and search.
So I don't see any problem with their attempted takeover plans of the sales themselves.
Yea, no harm no foul here, right? After all they own the right politicians don't they.

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[slashdot_commentator]

> Google has near monopoly control of advertising, data acquisition and search.

And Amazon doesn't?

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[oldgraybeard]

Interesting point
Google = Advertising, Data Acquisition and Search moving into Sales
Amazon = Advertising, Data Acquisition and Sales mmm

Maybe Amazon needs to Create a New Browser! And they can move in to Search ;)

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[Headw1nd]

To be fair, the search field is wide open for a challenger. Google's search has become worse with each passing year for reasons I frankly don't understand, but I assume have to do with a combination of "personalized" searching, aggressive SEO, and the declining quality of the substrate itself.

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[Cederic]

Google are also now censoring their search results, so that you can't find things they don't think you should be reading.

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[jimbob6]

But hey, Microsoft built internet explorer right into there operating system and that's antitrust!
Ah the good old days.

Yeah, that's what I thought was happening.

[RyanFenton]

Monitization isn't just an option for video producers.

Advertisement ebbs and flows, and like the market, finds ways to make things more 'efficient' for those with more money over time.

So, video producers see lots of little ways they get less money.

Youtube itself is also pressured into reducing its prices bit by bit.

So - the 'proper' reaction is that everyone gets more 'direct' with their advertising methods - like the 1950's ads where a Doctor walks on the set of the show you're watching and tells you the benefits of a smoooth smoke on [brand] cigarettes, and how there can't be anything healthier - your lungs will thank you!

Now, everyone's got their T-shirts, their branded kazoos, and their mystery box subscriptions.

So yeah - now Youtube is going to warehouse products and push their own supply chain integration to get a more direct line of income too.

The problem is - we put a lot of conceptual power in our minds on these media companies - but in terms of tiers of money, they're kind of small.

It's like this - the movie industry, even before Covid, is worth around 136 billion dollars per year.

The television industry is worth around 120 billion dollars per year (after paying other industries for content).

The video game industry is worth around 18.4 billion. The gambling industry in the US is about 240 billion. The lottery industry is worth around 80 billion.

Youtube is worth around $40 billion.

And that's entertainment values.

For reference the auto industry is worth around 540 billion in the US - more than all of those combined. Food industries are worth 1-2 trillion, depending on valuation methods. Lots of industries and economic segments dwarf entertainment.

And logistically - it kind of has to be this way, whatever market spin, or ideology you want to put on it. People got to eat, things have to be transported - humanity at large has to pull resources from the environment before we reach the comfortable position where Youtube matters.

The internet industry itself is going to be bigger than content, and it all serves the role of a society under it - even if we as a society disdain the concept of society. It's all got to function, so has to be able to be built and maintained.

But here's the thing - all entertainment pushes towards the 'market sellout' (putting it politely) direction over time - but the desire to share messages will also create new options in that same timeframe.

So - foster those new options. Jump ship when the message is lost in the noise. Create new options yourself if you care to - just know the pressures and the limitations of the platform, and why they really exist. You're a small fish in a big pond - but the land around that pond is running it as a farm.

Ryan Fenton

YouTube's barely a video destination at this point

[MinaInerz]

Between the overly aggressive ad pushing and the overpriced premium service, YouTube has become something I have to grit my teeth over every time I visit it.

If they want it to be a destination that people can buy things from, they should maybe focus on making it less unpleasant to use.

More time on youtube, More merch!

[wakeboarder]

I'll bet half of the videos on youtube spend at least 30sec up to 1min to self promote subscription, the bell, and/or merch. Has anybody considered what a wast of space an time this is? This isn't counting the growing number of ads on youtube.

Amazon's business model is built on saving people time, why can't youtube be the same way? (this would be a great idea for a business model as youtube is a waste of time via commercials)

Oh, goodbye internet, you were once good...

[bb_matt]

I despair at the changing face of a once inspirational, exciting and truly democratic sharing of information.

Why must everything be turned into a store front?
Why must every single damn website prompt you with a cookies modal window? - how did we get into this damn mess in the first instance.
Simple, really, the store front.

The internet is under threat from all sides now. It has been under threat for a decade or more, in terms of freedom of information.
It is now under threat from rampant consumerism that gets

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[bb_matt]

*later - alter!

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[bb_matt]

OMG, just mark me right the way down, too much friday evening beer.

*ALTAR
FFS.

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[Rick Schumann]

Honestly? It started way, way back, the first time the U.S. Postal Service allowed 'mass mailings' of advertising information: yes, all that crap in your snailmailbox marked as to 'Resident'. That opened the door later for SPAM on the Internet. Which, when Corporate America saw how big the Internet was getting, and how much more growth they projected, decided to start taking it over, bringing the original concept of Mail To Resident to the Internet. From there it all exploded into the mess we have now. All

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[Cederic]

Why must every single damn website prompt you with a cookies modal window?

Ah, that's an EU contribution and it's there for your benefit.

The correct question is why every single damn website includes tracking and advertising from 120 different fucking places.

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[bb_matt]

You misunderstand - I'm totally and absolutely onboard with GDPR and the legal requirements to inform users and allow them to set their cookie preferences for a website.

I'm not onboard with the way so many sites handle this - a modal is the last resort of lazy web development for use cases such as this.

FFS, just have a small flyout from the bottom of the page, or in the corner - something obvious enough to alert the user, but not detracting from the content.
A lot of websites do indeed use this method, which

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[Cederic]

Could be a legal interpretation of the various countries' regulations, not least the threshold for determining active consent.

BEHOLD! The Future of the Internet:

[Rick Schumann]

All advertising, all shopping ALL THE TIME. Internet 3.0: 'Read only', except for product reviews, and sites like Facebook and Twitter, that exist solely to collect your Very Personal Data, so they can target ads at you -- on YouTube, apparently, and to steer you to YouTube 'videos' (read as: 'infomercials') to sell you Shit You Don't Need. Probably start charging you a 'subscription fee' for YouTube, too.

I am curious about one thing though: if you're watching Maru videos, are they going to sell you cardboard boxes, or direct you to a 'kitten mill'?

Why?

[bradley13]

I know they think it's about the money, but seriously: why? I cannot imagine that the vast majority of YouTube users want to shop there. Sure, there will be a few people who spend money - just like some people actually watch the shopping channels on TV. So to separate a few fools from their cash, Google wants to degrade the experience for everyone else?

Some marketing droid had a brain fart.