YouTube is opening up its video ad streaming to adult-only content, meaning that companies advertising products like alcoholic beverages will be able to promote their products worry free on the video site. As YouTube is a huge platform catering to adults and children alike, across a variety of topics from teen pop stars to Ultimate Fighting and everything in between, giving advertisers the option to voluntarily age-restrict their content could open doors for advertisers who have been cautious of going the YouTube route in the past.
YouTube announced this new feature today on the YouTube blog, as part of their BizBlog Series. They point out that the video site already offers advertisers a variety of tools to help them target their ads, including the Video Targeting Tool, which lets users target their ads to specific videos, channels and categories and re-marketing, which gives advertisers the option to target users that have previously visited a brand’s YouTube channel. The option to set age restrictions just adds to the ability of advertisers to target their ads to specific age ranges.
YouTube says, “This is a long-requested feature by many advertisers interested in promoting their products, but who want to be sure that they comply with their own industry guidelines and regulations. Advertisers have always been able to age-restrict their channels generally, but to date only users could flag specific videos that they thought should be age-restricted under our Community Guidelines. Now, advertisers can do so proactively, and choose different ages depending on their needs.”
This service, which is currently available only to select advertisers, is great for companies promoting alcoholic beverages and other content geared towards an adult audience. Advertisers who are interested in age-restriction should contact their account representatives at YouTube.
If you advertise on YouTube, do you think you will take advantage of the new age restriction settings? Do you think this is a smart move on YouTube’s part that will lead to a growth in advertising of overage products?
