YouTube Select, formerlyGoogle Preferred, is a program offered byYouTube, a subsidiary ofGoogle, that allows advertisers to pay to place their ads on high-performing videos on its site.[1] The program divides YouTube's most popular channels among 18- to 34-year-olds, comprising the most popular 5% of content on the site, into twelve categories.[2] Its purpose is to signal advertisers that they can trust a given channel in the program to produce high-quality content.[3]
Google Preferred was announced at Google's 2014 Brandcast on April 30 in response to complaints from marketers that it was difficult to reach top-tier channels.[4] It was also introduced in an attempt by YouTube to increaseartificial scarcity and ad revenue.[5][6]
In March 2015, after Google Preferred proved highly successful in its first year, YouTube decided to keep using Google Preferred.[7] They implemented some minor changes to the program, however, such as reducing the number of categories from fourteen to twelve.[which?][8] The program was also expanded to include other countries besides theUnited States, includingCanada.[9]
In January 2018, stricter requirements were set, under which videos eligible for the program would be "manually curated", and only videos that meet YouTube's guidelines for advertiser-friendly content would be eligible.[10] The changes came in the wake of controversies affecting YouTube's advertising platform in 2017, including the appearance of ads on content deemed objectionable to advertisers, as well as a recent controversy surroundingLogan Paul's "suicide forest" video (which caused him to be removed from the program).[11][12]
In August 2018, a report was published on fake video views which contributed to the concerns around YouTube's reputation and the need for a more advertiser-friendly product.[13] In May 2020, Google Preferred was rebranded as "YouTube Select", with the former iteration to be phased out by the end of the year.[14]
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