YouTube is making some new promises to advertisers who are still on the fence about this whole online video thing that was supposed to take off in 2006, and then in 2007, but forget about 2008 because people, there’s a recession on the horizon.

I sat with a couple of reporters today at the YouTube “Videocracy” event at a Manhattan club venue, where three floors worth of advertising partners and employees lounged on mini-sofas and heard about the wonders of targeted video.

David Eun scopes out content partnerships for Google and YouTube. He told us that the real story of digital video is not being told by big TV networks with their multimillion dollar productions, and called that content “just a sliver” of what the company is doing as it signs on 250 to 300 new partners a quarter.

“A lot of the best content … is coming from smaller video producers,” he said. An example? Some fine work by the professional bull riders association. If you’re an advertiser, and you think your sweet spot audience harbors a secret desire for riding rough, where else will you find them?
“They’re never going to get a cable network,” Eun said.

Another thing. The way those broadcast networks are still hoarding video only on approved sites and media players. It’s just not the right direction. (Did someone say Hulu?)

“We don’t work exclusively. We don’t require it. It’s old school. I call it (creating) a false scarcity,” Eun said.

We still came away with the feeling that online video advertising had a ways to go before becoming a jackpot to somebody. Maybe to Google, which is building more campaigns with its clients that can move from its search listings to video tie-ins.

“Most of the major brand advertisers we have on Google are engaged on YouTube or getting engaged,” Tim Armstrong, the company’s North American ad chief said.