Google is closing down its service for online video sales and rental, a 19-month experiment doomed by free online video sites such as YouTube.

The decision, confirmed Friday, reinforces Google's intention to concentrate on an ad format development to capitalize on the popularity of online video. The company has already earned a lot from advertising, but most of it comes from traditional text-based messages along with search results or other written content online.

Google's video section will remain open, but will stop showing paid programming beginning Wednesday.

Google started selling the right to watch online video in January 2006, offering videos from a couple of dollars to $20. Customers could either pay less to “rent” the right to watch the video for a day, or purchase the show to watch it without limit.

According to Wall Street Journal, “The move provides the latest indication that Google has become more willing to pull the plug on services that aren't gaining traction, something its management rarely did until the past year.” Last November, Google shut down a service that paid researchers to find answers to questions posed by online users.