YouTube Teams with Amazon, iTunes in eCommerce Deal

SAN BRUNO, October 8:
YouTube is venturing into the eCommerce space, inking a deal that enables users
to purchase music, games and other products featured in selected content on the
site directly from iTunes and Amazon.com.

The YouTube eCommerce
Platform has launched in the U.S. and will gradually be rolled out to other
territories. It allows users to click-to-buy products, including songs, video
games, books and movies, related to the content they're watching on the site.
Retail links to buy songs from iTunes and Amazon.com will appear on pages of
authorized video content from companies such as EMI Music. YouTube users
watching music videos from their favorite artists will be able to click on
buttons that link to the corresponding pages on iTunes and Amazon. And those
partners who use YouTube's content identification and management system can
also enable retail links on their videos.

"YouTube content
partners now have the ability to promote and monetize their content in a new
and exciting way and create a deeper distribution channel for their content
online," said Chad Hurley, the co-founder and CEO of YouTube. "Our
goal is to improve the overall YouTube experience by connecting consumers with
relevant information and entertaining content. The addition of retail links
will enhance the viewing experience and allow people to engage more deeply with
the content they want to consume."

"Amazon.com is always
looking for new ways to make discovering and buying products as convenient as
possible for our customers, which is why we're excited to collaborate with
YouTube," added Scott Merlino, the senior manager of the Amazon Associates
Program. "Now in the context of the YouTube experience visitors will be
able to discover and purchase products from Amazon.com that are relevant to the
content they are viewing."

—By Mansha Daswani