Google says YouTube profit is "highest priority"

Schmidt claims Google innovation will somehow monetise site

1 May 2008 17:28 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that finding a way to make money from YouTube is the company's "top priority".

Google bought the video site for $1.65 billion in 2006, and despite the fact the site accounts for 10% of all internet traffic, the search engine giant has found it hard to monetise the site's popularity.

"We're working but have not yet, in my view, gotten a breakthrough around monetisation", Schmidt admitted in an interview with CNBC.

"So while we have lots and lots of traffic and we have lots and lots of interesting and creative people and all sorts of controversies - we're blocked in countries, so on and so on - I don't think we've quite figured out the perfect solution of how to make money, and we're working on that. That's our highest priority this year."

Schmidt says there are new products to come that could make the difference: "We believe the best products are coming out this year. And they're new products. They're not announced. They're not just putting in-line ads in the things that people are trying. But we have a number - and, of course, Google is an innovative place".

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Software, Biz, Google, Websites, YouTube