Bary Alyssa Johnson - PC Magazine
Google has upgraded and updated its online video service to offer free ad-supported access to premium content, among other things.
Google has launched a beta version of its new "sponsored video" service, which makes available a variety of videos that are paid for by companies like HP. The free content ranges from music videos to cartoon shows, interviews, and movies.
In order to offer the content for free, Google has gone with advertisements of the non-invasive variety. Instead of pop-up ads, the sponsors post links to their Web sites as well as to commercials they've uploaded onto the Google Video service.
In addition, Google users can now rate, label, and post comments on each video. Videos are rated on a five-star scale, enabling users to offer up personal input, engage in discussions with other users, and see which videos are most highly rated. Google says it added the label feature to help users associate a video with a specific word or phrase to help locate it at a later time.
Lastly, Google has added a "Share this Video" feature, which lets users send videos to friends and family or post to different Web sites.
"A few clicks and your current favorite is directly embedded into the most popular blogging platforms like Blogger, TypePad, MySpace, and LiveJournal," said Jon Steinback, product marketing manager for the Google Web site.
Copyright 2006 Ziff Davis Inc.