YouTube to sell video games

Attempt to grow revenue outside advertising sales

8 October 2008 16:03 GMT / By Verity Burns

YouTube is to start selling videogames via its website, in an attempt to grow revenue through new advertising formats.

Currently, when people watch music videos on the video streaming website, YouTube provides them with links to Amazon's MP3 store and the Apple iTunes store to buy the track. It is thought the game-selling will work in a similar way.

Both of these are part of an ongoing effort to earn money through the site, bought by Google in 2006. Until recently, the site had relied on advertising sales as its main source of income, but by stretching out into such avenues as music and games sales, analysts have estimated YouTube would earn around $100m in revenue next year.

"There'll be lots of different solutions for lots of different problems," Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube director of product management, said. "We've tested a lot of things already, and we're going to be testing more in the future. Some will work, some won't."

Google has been pushing into the gaming industry more and more recently, so it doesn't come as much surprise it is moving its other companies in the same direction.

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