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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Google exporting video


Google Inc. 's plan to export videos represents its biggest attempt to capitalize on its acquisition of YouTube a year ago.Associated Press
 (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

SAN FRANCISCO – Google Inc. will begin showing YouTube videos on thousands of other Web sites, hoping to profit from ads attached to the clips.

The expansion, scheduled to be announced today, represents the Internet search leader’s farthest-reaching attempt yet to cash in on its $1.76 billion acquisition of YouTube since the deal closed 11 months ago.

Google already shows some video ads on clips on YouTube’s own site.

The ads accompanying the outbound YouTube clips won’t be in a video format. Instead, they will appear as a graphic straddling the video or as a link along the bottom.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google began showing ad-supported YouTube videos on a handful of Web sites earlier this year. Now, it’s reaching out to its entire “AdSense” network – an array of large and small Web publishers.

But Google won’t be pulling clips from YouTube’s entire library, which includes a multitude of wacky segments contributed by amateur videographers. The material sent to other Web sites will be confined to video from providers who sign consent forms.

If the broader distribution of video pays off, it could encourage Google to distribute other types of content, including news stories and audio files, across its vast network of advertising partners.

Until now, Google only had been delivering ads tied to the search requests and other content on the pages of its AdSense partners.

With the new twist, Web sites participating in AdSense now can sign up to specify the kinds of YouTube videos they want shown on their pages. A Web site focused on automobiles, for instance, might want to display YouTube videos about cars and other vehicles.