“In a move to provide better data to its users, YouTube formally announced late Wednesday that it had added a free feature that will show video creators when and where viewers are watching their videos. A movie studio might run several versions of a trailer on YouTube to see what is catching on where, and if a humorous spot is catching fire in Texas, might start running that trailer as a TV ad in the state.

A political campaign could test spots of a candidate discussing the environment or the economy on YouTube; if an environmental spot is popular in Pennsylvania, that might help decide what the candidate stumps about there.

During a YouTube test of the feature, a band uploaded its music performances, determined which states it was popular in via Insight, and planned a tour around that. ” – NYTimes

I think this is a pretty good idea for the most part… I only hope that it doesn’t turn YouTube into even more of a marketing “test bay” of sorts. I’d hate to be flooded with test commercials and political statements every time I do a search for randomly funny YouTube videos or music.