YouTube announced new Shopping ads, which are designed to turn any YouTube video into what the company calls a “digital storefront.” YouTube is targeting what it sees as a growing market: It’s seen 40 percent growth in views of product videos in the past year, and 20 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds say they go to YouTube to find out what to buy.

As you can see as the video plays,if you click on the ‘i’ icon a selection of products will show up on the right hand side of the video screen. The video ad was for a camera review from the brand Sony, and the cameras shown was the one used in the video. According to Google, instead of having people watch a video and then do a search for a product, the new ad format allows customers to skip the search and go straight to a product page.

This new feature is particularly useful for bloggers and brands alike who might be reviewing or promoting a selection of products as anyone watching can now buy the items from within the video. Google states that is now easier than ever for brands to show-case their products and make them available for users to buy when set up with Google’s own Merchant Centre:

“Thanks to the first-ever integration of the Google Merchant Center into video ads, advertisers need only connect their campaign with a Merchant Center feed to dynamically add products to their in-stream videos, customized for each user through contextual and audience signals like geography and demographic info.”

YouTube is just the latest ad-driven platform to really embrace e-commerce. For the last year social networking sites like Twitter have been working on the ability to buy within tweets. While Facebook has been working on a “buy” button for online purchases. Instagram advertising options include a “Shop Now” button.

So what do you think? Do you think Shopping Ads is going to revolutionize the way we shop? Let us know your thoughts.