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When Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion, conventional reasoning suggested that the search giant had grand plans to monetize the video content with advertising. As we sit upon the precipice of 2007, Google has begun testing in-stream advertising methods geared at just such a practice.

We all knew this day was coming, a day when Google would finally step in to the foray of online video advertising. It's been speculated, analyzed, and talked into the ground, and now it's all finally beginning to take shape.

This except from the AdWords blog explains how the process is designed to work:

When a video ad is served to a page, it will be displayed as a static opening image until the user interacts with the ad. Once the user clicks the play button or the opening image, the video will begin playing within the ad space. If the user clicks the display URL at the bottom of the ad, they will automatically be taken to the advertiser's website. We'll report a clickthrough whenever a user clicks the display URL and visits the advertiser's site, rather than when a user clicks the play button or image.

"Google offers an extremely effective platform for content providers and advertisers alike," the company said in a statement posted in AdWeek. "We respect the rights of content owners and want to work with them to more broadly distribute their content and help them monetize better than ever before."

It seems that there is already some data coming in about the financial particulars of the advertising deals. Brian Morrissey of AdWeek claims to have some inside information:

The company declined to discuss the financial arrangements of the ad deal, but Andy Plesser, who runs Beet.tv, said the Allstate commercials were sold at $15 per thousand views, with the money split between Beet.tv and Google. Plesser said the site gets about 1,000 visitors per day.

I'll be curious to see further details on Google's video advertising ventures as they become available.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.