Google Inc yesterday launched an integrated video network in Taiwan that allows advertisers to display ads on five video-sharing sites for a single fee to help clients increase their marketing efficiency and reduce costs.
“Advertisers only need to pay once and then the Google Video Network could help them expand their ads’ reach to more Internet users,” Google product marketing manager Teresa Huang (黃寶萱) told a news conference promoting the 10th anniversary of the YouTube Web site.
The integrated network would also help clients to avoid collecting one user’s data multiple times, which is a key to reducing marketing expenses, she said.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
The video-sharing Web sites that have partnered with YouTube, which is now owned by Google, include the Apple Daily’s, Amazon.com Inc’s live-streaming platform Twitch, Chinese streaming firm Youku Tudou Inc’s (優酷土豆) Youku.com (優酷網) and Tudou.com (土豆網) and Sohu.com Inc’s (搜狐) sites, Google said.
Huang said it was important to launch the Google Video Network in Taiwan, as statistics showed that the number of hours people in Taiwan watch YouTube jumped 80 percent annually in the January-to-March quarter this year, outpacing a global growth rate of 60 percent.
According to Google, YouTube attracts 9.3 million unique viewers per month who spend an average of 25 minutes per visit.
Globally, YouTube has more than 1 billion users, Google said.
The statistics suggest that watching videos on video-sharing Web sites is increasingly popular among Taiwanese Internet users, Huang said, adding that the cross-video site service and YouTube’s TrueView technology would help clients refine their marketing strategies and target specific consumers.
Google Taiwan general manager Stanley Chen (陳俊廷) said TrueView would display the ads for five seconds and then allow Internet users to choose to carry on watching an ad or stop it.
“The technology is an effective way for clients to catch target audience as only users who are interested in the ads keep watching them,” Chen said.
“When there are so many ads displayed in our daily lives, consumers only want to focus on things they are really interested in, so this is a very important way to get their attention and not to waste marketing,” Chen said.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a