• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, April 25, 2012

Google-owned YouTube rolled out a number of new initiatives to lure more marketers to the video-sharing site and to ad opportunities in video across the Web. The goal is to build on YouTube’s growing success with video advertising including its early AdWords for video efforts.

On average, YouTube video ads drive a 20% increase in traffic to a business’ Web site and a 5% increase in searches for that business, according to a blog entry YouTube posted quietly over the weekend.

That’s why Google has now officially opened Google AdWords for video to everyone. The ad process is similar to search advertising — buyers bid on the ads and pay for clicks. Video ads can be promoted by keyword, shown against specific content, or linked into a YouTube account so existing videos can feed the campaign, said Baljeet Singh, YouTube group product manager, who authored the blog post.

“With AdWords for video you can find out how viewers are engaging with your brand during and after they watch your ad. You can see how many viewers watched your entire video, visited your website, stayed on your channel to watch another video, or subscribed to your channel after viewing your ad,” Singh said.

YouTube is also giving away a $75 credit for each new AdWords business, with plans to distribute $50 million in free Google AdWords buys to help 500,000 businesses get into video, Singh said.

If brands need a helping hand to get started making videos, YouTube also created a playbook for advertisers and it’s a hefty 121 pages.

For a few years after Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, such monetization efforts were barely on the radar screen. But in the last year, YouTube has pushed into the ad business and appears on a rapid video trajectory to collect a range of ad dollars — from brand messages being placed in front of other video content, from branded video programming and from video ads that run across the Web.