YouTube might reach profitability this year, which means it’s time for parent company Google (s GOOG) to figure out ways to make it even more profitable. That might happen by making it even easier for small advertisers to build overlay ads to run over YouTube videos, according to a patent filing spotted by GoRumors.
In a patent application entitled “Video Overlay Advertisement Creator,” Google outlines the “methods and systems for creating video overlay advertisements suitable for use with digital videos.” The system basically allows advertisers to specify the attributes of an overlay ad through a browser-based user interface, which would be communicated back to the YouTube server. The server would then provide a preview of the ad in the advertiser’s browser. In other words, it lets advertisers build their own overlay ads, without having to hire an agency to do so.
An image of what Google has in mind is embedded below:
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