YouTube Launches E-commerce Platform

Looking to develop new revenue streams, YouTube today announced the first steps in its e-commerce strategy ─ deals with Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iTunes and Amazon.com (AMZN) ─ that offer the Web video community a site to directly buy and download music, games, and other products.

The Google Inc. (GOOG) subsidiary says the YouTube eCommerce Platform will be rolled out on a larger scale over the coming months to allow partners across all industries including music, film, TV, and publishing to generate additional revenue from their content beyond advertising.

The effort provides a focused commerce opportunity as the products and services that can be bought are related to specific videos. Online video-sharing sites much smaller than YouTube have been battling for Web ads and have resorted to syndicating their content to larger, more heavily traveled destinations in the absence of strong ad revenue streams they originally counted on.

The deal with iTunes comes as little surprise given that it’s estimated music videos make up roughly 25 percent of content on the site. Google, which announced plans two years ago this month to buy YouTube for more than $1.6 billion, is trying to generate more and new types of revenue from its huge video portal.

“Our goal is to improve the overall YouTube experience by connecting consumers with relevant information and entertaining content,” said Chad Hurley, co-founder and CEO of YouTube, in prepared comments. “The addition of retail links will enhance the viewing experience and allow people to engage more deeply with the content they want to consume.”

Non-obtrusive retail links to buy songs from iTunes and Amazon.com will appear on the watch pages of authorized video content from companies such as EMI Music, says YouTube.

Users watching music videos from their favorite artists will be able to click on buttons that link to the corresponding pages on iTunes and Amazon MP3 where they can buy and download that music. Those partners who use YouTube's content identification and management system can also enable retail links on claimed videos that they choose to leave up on the site, according to the company.

The YouTube eCommerce Platform is currently available in the United States. In the coming months, the platform will be expanded internationally.

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