• BBC News, Monday, January 29, 2007 11:17 AM

BBC News interviewed YouTube founder Chad Hurley shortly after the announcement at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this weekend that the online video provider would begin sharing ad revenue with producers. Hurley said this is one of a number of major announcements YouTube is set to make over the coming months. The other big one--is the "audio fingerprinting" technology that would be used to identify copyrighted material as it's uploaded by users.

The advertising industry, meanwhile, has been waiting for the official unveiling of YouTube's video ad system, the revenue-sharing program it will use to compensate video producers and copyright holders alike. Hurley said the system would rollout in a couple of months, using a mixture of advertising platforms--presumably as a test, initially--including ads ahead of videos. He stressed pre-rolls would be short, as in 3 seconds long.

Hurley said part of the reason for Y2-year-old YouTube's success has been its aversion to advertising, but now that it's matured, grabbing some 70 million users per month, it would have to rollout a new revenue system going forward.

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