Ads often come down to real estate, and while YouTube is still looking for ways to find marketing gold in its mountain of traffic, one solution that could be on the horizon is a billboard-style approach to the site's front page.

According to a report in Silicon Alley Insider, YouTube may soon start handing over more and more of its front page to advertisers.

YouTube currently has some video ads on the upper right hand corner of the site, and there are a few banners below that. But the company is said to be working on a format that would make possible bigger banners that would run the width of the front page.

YouTube is thought to be shopping the ads to entertainment companies. The strategy isn't all that different from one employed by MySpace, which has consistently allowed advertisers to take over its front page to promote new film and television releases. However, YouTube may be at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with MySpace on those terms because many of its users go directly to a video, which is often sent to them by friends via email.

Meanwhile, competition in the video space continues to grow. Yesterday, Time Warner launched WB.com, the online extension of its television network.