One of the greatest, yet oft overlooked, innovations of the wildly popular YouTube website is the ability to embed its videos on other sites. In one sweeping move, YouTube made it possible for any website operator to easily host high quality video streams on their web pages.
Prior to YouTube, if a client wanted video we had to get a digital copy from the client, select which format would be best for the client’s audience, rip the video to that format and host the video file at a significant expense. And if the client wanted a cheap solution, well, they just didn’t have one. Now, if a client wants a cheap and easy video solution we just create a YouTube account for them, upload it and post. Simple.
But there is a catch. Once the video runs the viewer sees thumbnails of “related” videos, enticing them to visit the source of this video extravaganza - YouTube.com. And now YouTube (or shall we really say, Google, which purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006), is trying to drive this cross-over marketing strategy even further. All embedded YouTube clips now automatically include a video search bar.
So What About Me and My Websites?
The addition of this new search bar sounds minor, and to many it may be. But it looks kinda’ ugly and adds yet one more distraction that could potentially drive traffic from your website. Fortunately, if you don’t like the idea of offering a web search that could divert traffic from your site there is an option. An additional snippet of code in your embedded clips will hide the search bar: “&showsearch=0″ For more info on how to do this click here.
So, if you want a super easy and free way to add videos to your website, YouTube is still the way to go. It’s simplicity is pure genius. But if you would like to really be in control of the video on your site this new feature may give you pause.
