YouTube is launching a new ad format in Canada today. The official announcement, posted a few minutes ago on YouTube Biz Blog, comes with news that the new feature has evolved into a much broader vehicle for advertisers since it launched in the US last year.

Promoted Videos, as the new format is called, helps brand-supported vids rise above the clutter by driving viewership to them via targeted searches on the platform including the YouTube homepage, its video watch pages and recently across the AdSense network.

Better conversion opps have also been developed via call-to-action overlays which are said to help drive millions of views a weeks. (Since January, clicks have increased 500% according to YouTube.)

Starting today, Promoted Videos can be bought directly in AdWords, giving advertisers a one-stop shop for larger and more targeted audiences,  Google ad buys and YouTube campaign tools.

Last month, YouTube represented about 20% of searches performed in Canada according to comScore, coming in second after Google with over 720MM searches.