Have you have seen Google’s Gmail theater videos? They’re short instructional videos using characters/puppets made out of office supplies extolling the virtues and features of Gmail. They’re whimsical and fun… you know, typical Google. Now they’re showing up in AdSense spots.
Gmail Theater videos on YouTube one day last week on Digg.
The most interesting thing about these videos isn’t what they were, but where they’ve been showing up lately -namely, in AdSense spots.
Digital Inspiration blogger Amit Agarwal was surprised to find Gmail Theater Act 1 in his AdSense display. Amit made several interesting observations about the embedded player in his post including:
- The AdSense gadget has an embedded Youtube player and serves the videos directly from YouTube.
- The Youtube player (250x200) is about 50 pixels smaller than the AdSense Ad (300x250)
- A company called
Since buying YouTube, Google really hasn’t done too much with it –sparring with various sundry traditional media studios aside. So, in a lot of ways, I looked at Google Theater as Google’s first foray into video on YouTube. I remember thinking when I saw the Gmail videos that this was an odd use of somebody’s favorite song turned into a fast commercial or something. OK, maybe not THAT bad… but it's the same concept.
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