--Company Also Inviting Users to Upload Instructional Videos about its Service's Features
 In a posting on its business blog, Tuesday, YouTube announced the launch of an interactive "call-to-action overlay" service that it is offering at no extra charge to customers of its CPC Promoted Videos program. The service allows those customers to place semi-transparent overlays on top of their videos, containing clickable links to their Web sites or any other online location where supplemental information or ecommerce opportunities might be located (previously such links could only be located next to the video). "Adding a call-to-action overlay to your video is easy," the blog posting by YouTube product manager, Thai Tran, stated. "First, run a campaign to promote your video on YouTube. Then, go to the Video Details page under My Videos and fill out the fields in the section marked "call-to-action overlay." All you have to do is include a short headline, ad text, a destination URL, and upload an optional image, and the overlay will appear whenever someone watches your video. Clicks on the overlay will be tracked in YouTube Insight."
YouTube says that it launched the new call-to-action overlays--which it has been testing with various partners over the past few months (note: according to a report in TechCrunch in March, a donation-soliciting overlay that was run by the non-profit, charity:water, on top of a video promoted on YouTube's home page, generated $10,000 in a single day)--because it has "heard from users, partners and advertisers using Promoted Videos that they want to be able to...'close the loop' and drive traffic to off-YouTube Web pages" where consumers can convert their video views into "a sale, a sign-up [or] a donation."
In other YouTube news: The company is once again inviting users of its service to upload their own instructional videos about the service's various features. According to the company, the first wave of its so-called "Adopt a Feature" promotion resulted in uploads of videos on the service's AudioSwap, Country Pulldown, Insight, Playlists, Quick Capture and Subscriptions features that have collectively generated over 800,000 views (note: the videos can be viewed at youtube.com/adoptafeature). The second wave of the promotion is seeking user-generated videos on the service's Annotations, Customize Your Homepage, Tags, Quicklist and Mobile Upload features. While the promotion is not offering any prizes, YouTube says that the best entries will be featured on its homepage.
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