Google Says Goodbye to AdSense Video Units

Google says its discontinuation of its AdSense video units feature is just a case of pulling the plug on a poor performer.

In announcing the decision to “sunset” the feature, which allowed the showing of YouTube content and ads on Web pages, the Google AdSense team said the decision to terminate came as part of a routine review of product effectiveness. The team said the AdSense video units program “hasn’t had the impact we had hoped for.”

Google said it was retiring the feature at the end of April and will focus “on other opportunities to help publishers earn from their sites.” It stressed that publishers who want to continue displaying video content from YouTube can simply go to any video page at YouTube.com and grab the code in the ‘Embed’ box. Or, YouTube members can sign in to their accounts to create video playlists.

The demise of AdSense video units does not impact the availability of other video-related ads options, stressed Google. It noted that video ads may appear in AdSense for content ad units for users who have “opted into” image ads. Also, AdSense for video is “still accepting applications from eligible publishers who produce video content,” said the Google announcement.

Now that it’s no longer making available the option to sign-up for video units, Google asked those who are currently displaying them to begin removing the video unit code from their pages. It promised to credit to their accounts any earnings they’d made from the units. Any leaderboard or skyscraper video units remaining on pages after April will direct visitors to YouTube and other video unit sizes will automatically convert to standard embedded YouTube players, said Google, stressing these players will not generate any revenue.