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SHOPPING LIFE

The (The Spokesman-Review)
The (The Spokesman-Review)

Online video leader YouTube has opened up its version of a home shopping network in its latest effort to wring more revenue from its massive audience and justify the $1.76 billion that Google Inc. paid for the site two years ago.

In the new service, unveiled last week in the United States, buttons under YouTube videos will offer viewers a chance to buy music, movies, TV shows, concert tickets and other products featured or mentioned in a particular clip.

When one of the links is clicked, the YouTube viewer is taken to another Web site like Amazon.com or iTunes that’s selling a desired song or other product. YouTube will receive a commission for each completed sale.

For starters, YouTube is selling songs only from two major labels – EMI Music and Universal Music Group – and video games made by Electronic Arts Inc. But it hopes to persuade studios to peddle movies and TV shows alongside video clips.

Eventually, YouTube wants to expand beyond entertainment sales to create a shopping bazaar. For instance, a home-care how-to clip on YouTube might include a sales button for a lawn mower.

“This is just the first step in this adventure,” said Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube’s director of product management.

YouTube plans to expand the sales channel outside the United States, but didn’t specify a timetable for the international expansion.

The “click-to-buy” links are part of YouTube’s intensifying focus on figuring out how to profit from its popularity without alienating an audience accustomed to watching clips without the commercial interruptions that fill television airwaves. YouTube also has had to navigate thorny copyright issues that have restricted its ability to show ads. Besides introducing a platform for e-commerce, YouTube also formally announced a new player, called “Theater View,” for watching full-length videos. The new player, which began appearing on YouTube last month, looks more like a small movie screen with stage curtains on the sides. It can even be dimmed to simulate a movie theater.

The Associated Press