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 Tuesday in the United States, there will be buttons under YouTube videos to 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.
Eventuall y, 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.
YouTube has only had moderate success with ads so far, mostly with short commercials that appear in a small frame underneath the main video. Its revenue this year is expected to hover around $ 200 million – an amount that has been somewhat disappointing to industry analysts, given that the site attracts nearly 100 million people each month in the United States alone.
Google has been patient with YouTube, telling its shareholders that it’s more important to nurture the video site’s audience than to fret about financial targets.
YouTube has succeeded on that front. In July, the site served up about 5 billion videos in the United States, according to the latest data from comScore Inc. That was 10 times more than the runner-up, News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media, a group that includes the online hangout MySpace, which also has started to sell songs in a joint venture with major record labels.
Google hasn’t felt pressured to reap a quick return from YouTube because its main business of selling text-based ads alongside search results and other Web content is thriving, with revenue expected to surpass $20 billion this year.
Still, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has been promising YouTube will become a huge moneymaker once it finds the right advertising formula. He has gone as far as to suggest the perfect commercial approach at YouTube is “the holy grail.”
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.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Sonic 3” Rule Box Office For 1st Weekend Of 2025
The Walt Disney Co.'s "Mufasa: The Lion King" claimed the No. 1 spot on the North American box office charts over the first weekend of 2025.
The photorealistic "Lion King" prequel earned $23.8 million in its third weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount's "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," which has dominated the past two weekends, wasn't far behind.
"Sonic 3" stayed close with a 3-day estimate of $21.2 million, bringing its total domestic earnings to $187.5 million and helping the overall franchise cross $1 billion worldwide. "Mufasa's" running total is slightly less, with $169.2 million.
In third place, Focus Features' "Nosferatu" remake defied the fate of so many of its genre predecessors and fell only 39% in its second weekend. Horror films typically fall sharply after the first weekend and anything less than a 50% decline is notable. "Nosferatu," which added 140 screens, claimed $13.2 million in ticket sales, bringing its running total to $69.4 million since its Christmas debut. The film, directed by Robert Eggers, already surpassed its reported production budget of $50 million, though that figure does not account for marketing and promotion expenses).
No new wide releases opened this weekend, leaving the box office top 10 once again to holdovers from previous weeks. Several have been in theaters since Thanksgiving. One of those, "Moana 2," claimed the No. 4 spot for Disney in its sixth weekend in theaters. The animated sequel earned another $12.4 million, bumping its global total to $960.5 million.
The Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," dipped only slightly in its second weekend, bringing in $8.1 million. With $41.7 million total, it's Searchlight's highest grossing film since Disney acquired the company in... Read More