Google has always had an affection for automatic detection, from writing subtitles to copyrighted content detection. The company is currently working on a new technology that will allow it to identify products listed in a YouTube video automatically.
The latest feature broke on the video-sharing platform website. The website hosts a devoted page informing the public what experimental features are coming to the platform. The recent update to this page details a very curious feature:
March 22, 2021] Testing automated list of products detected in videos: We are experimenting with a new feature that displays a list of products detected in some videos, as well as related products. The feature will appear in between the recommended videos, to viewers scrolling below the video-sharing goal is to help people explore more videos and information about those products on YouTube. This feature will be visible to people watching videos in the US.
Unfortunately, Google did not give additional information on how it will detect products. However, it is an interesting step for the tech giant to make, and we will have to wait and see how this recent technology works.
Why is the company working so hard to offer you a purchase link for the bag of chips your favorite YouTuber is on camera? The answer may lie in the company’s effort to move away from advertising. Nobody likes an advert shoved in their face when they are trying to watch an interesting video.
However, people have their own ad-free option that comes entirely free of charge; ad blockers. Once installed, people can watch YouTube videos without those disturbing ads, making it uneasy for the company to generate revenue from the video-sharing platform.
However, this latest automatic product linking tool is a way of generating revenue, instead of tossing a random ad at the viewer and hoping it sticks, the tool will look at what is mentioned by the uploader and generate a link for it.
This tool will likely capitalize on when a specific product is mentioned by a YouTube personality or how they really enjoyed a specific game or movie. Such comments often interest viewers, at which point google swoops in with an ad for the mentioned product.
This development is good news for content creators, who have fought for every dime they earn through YouTube advertising.