YouTube to enter e-commerce arena by adding 'click-to-buy' feature

In a move to monetize its popularity, the video sharing website YouTube is introducing the 'click-to-buy' option for users interested in purchasing goods and content related to the videos they are watching.

As part of this initiative, YouTube is to allow retailers to insert buttons below videos on its website which allow users to connect to Apple’s iTunes music store, Amazon’s shopping portal, or computing game publisher Electronic Arts to buy music and video games. The retail links are currently only available in the US.  YouTube plans to use this e-commerce service to sell music, films, TV shows, video games, books, concert tickets and other media-related products to generate additional revenue for both itself and companies placing videos on the website.

Industry analysts at research firm Piper Jaffray Research estimate that the video website could earn about USD 200 million in revenue in 2009, as compared with nearly USD 27 billion predicted for Google. ComScore reports that YouTube registered 330 million visitors in August 2008. In 2006, Google paid  $1.7 billion for the acquisition of YouTube.