If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that Google has purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. I know what you’re saying - “it’s dot-com madness all over again”. YouTube is one of the most popular websites around at the moment, and with good reason - it’s got some really cool videos, like Where the Hell is Matt?, the Dance Scene in Napoleon Dynamite, Ronaldinho’s skills, OK Go’s synchronised treadmilling (if that’s a word), the girl who took a photo of herself every day for three years, and many more.

YouTube gets about 20 million visitors every month, and over 100 million clips are watched every day on YouTube. For many people with high-speed connections and a nice big monitor, YouTube is replacing that traditional box in the corner. When you can skim from an Elvis Costello video to Tommy Tiernan to the famous De Niro scene in Taxi Driver, what need have you for television, with its neverending ad breaks and nights with absolutely nothing on?

The implications of YouTube are revolutionary, and this is why Google has splashed out so much. But the question remains as to how Google stands to make money. Here are the options:

1. Showing a little ‘commercial message’ in the bottom corner of each video. This is interesting, as the ads could be targeted to the content of the video. So, for example, if you’re watching the De Niro clip above, the ad could say, “Get Taxi Driver on DVD”.

2. Using Google AdWords on the YouTube site. I’m not sure if this, done alone, will re-coup the $1.65 billion anytime soon.

3. Charging users to watch videos. I can’t see this happening, there would be an outcry from the YouTube community, and visitor levels would dwindle very quickly.

It’s likely that advertising will find its way onto YouTube in some form or other - Google didn’t splash out that much money to keep such a good thing going - but already people are saying that it was a very smart move. Watch this space - developments here have the potential to affect everyone who works in marketing.

Chemistry’s Shamrock Development (watch on YouTube) is an excellent example of viral advertising. As marketing departments demand increased return on their spend, and in a culture where ‘interruptive advertising’ (ads that interrupt you - TV, radio, pop-ups, etc) is getting more and more stick, an ad that people want to see is gold dust. A classy use of Web 2.0 technology. If you’re one of the few who hasn’t seen it yet, check this article on the Sunday Business Post website. If you thought it was a bit incredible, check out what the PD’s are ‘planning’ for Dublin.