Web video site You Tube will be profitable for Google Inc. in the near future, the internet search leader said.

Google acquired You Tube for $1.65 billion in 2006, but has lost money on the site that lets people post and share videos for free.

Analysts have raised concerns about the huge costs involved in streaming millions of videos with only a tiny swathe of them being supported by advertising.

"You Tube is now on a trajectory that we're very pleased with," Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said during an earnings call. He added that Google is helping marketers and advertising agencies create "great ads easily" for YouTube.

Google executives have recently made bullish remarks on You Tube's revenue growth. Mr Schmidt told reporters at the Sun Valley technology and media conference this month that new advertising formats, such as pre-roll advertising that appear before a web video programme, will draw in more revenue.

Google's head of product management and marketing, Jonathan Rosenberg, said "monetised views" - people viewing videos that are supported by advertising - more than tripled in the past year.

"We're now monetising billions of views of partner videos every month," he said.

In response to an analyst question, Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said recent efforts to introduce new advertising formats and promote videos have helped to establish You Tube's home page among advertisers as relevant and "desirable for customers."

"We're really pleased both in terms of (You Tube's) revenue growth, which is really material to YouTube, and ... in the not long, too-long-distant future, we actually see a very profitable and good business for us," Pichette said.