Good News, Bad News at GooTube

I’m tired of reading all this crap and bickering btwn the networks and GooTube (I blame both sides, GooTube for allowing copyrighted stuff to be uploaded and the networks for not being more creative w/ technology). It is all about online ad revenue.

I wish GooTube had something w/ Apple to allow iTunes to upload the top viewed videos onto an iPod. With something like that, there wouldn’t be so much bitching about the online revenue. It would become one channel and they can figure out their specific cut of the online revenue pie. Plus, user-created content can get a cut of the pie also.

I had always had the opinion that YouTube was inevitable (users would constantly try to upload there and it would be a never ending battle), and the networks had to work with them.

But it appears if the content companies provide a good usable product with the features users want they will use it as opposed to YouTube.

Robert Young has a good take on this whole thing at http://gigaom.com/2007/03/01/i.....a-company/

Lets not be media pawns. They are going to get this deal done there is no question. It is all about dollars.

I don’t think that statement from Viacom conflicts with what CBS said earlier. Those seem to be completely unrelated things (traffic to a website driven by people looking for the removed clips of popular shows, and viewership of television shows raised by people who saw teaser clips on a popular video sharing site). They’re not mutually exclusive statements.

The reason why Viacom got a lot of traffic to their websites? Because their website videos were in the news.

BTW, MTV.com is the worst website ever. Always has been. I just tried the other day to video a music video and I literally can’t wait to pull teeth when trying to deal with an idiotic flash interface.

Youtube suuuuuuuuuuuuureeeeee was a good buy. Maybe they should have opted for bittorrent instead.

While I think this will certainly work out in short order, I’m a little surprised it’s taken so long for at least one major media player to get on board and license their vids through YouTube.

@Alaska Miller : If they would have opted for BitTorrent, there wouldn’t have been any service available to improve their Google Videos.

One question: Why didn’t YouTube start working on partnership deals with the major studios when they first got popular and went mainstream?

I don’t really understand why the networks need youtube here unless you think ad monetization on video will be text ads. The networks are way better and way ahead of Google in selling video ads (not online but who cares what the platform is). The big brand advertisers that the networks have the relationships with are the ones that want their ads next to premium content, not all the millions little guys Google specializes in who don’t care whether their ad is next to Desparate Housewives or some porn ripoff of Desparate Housewives, as long as the traffic converts. Sure YouTube has distribution, but for videos that already have a following and a brand (as opposed to my homemade video of my cat), that is not that big of a deal. If someone really wants to see a Daily Show clip, it will not be very hard for them to figure out where to get it. Maybe I just don’t get it…

who wants to watch long videos on youtube? quality is poor. how about this: youtube for virally-leaked clips and talent looking for a break - full length programs on something like joost - or even better - just sell a few ads to include in a torrent - and leak the torrent:

http://mattishness.blogspot.co.....olved.html

I agree with Eric…I think it would be a dumb move for the content creators to jump on a bandwagon. They should each register a new domain name and feed the content to their own youtube clone. I would think they would be in a better and stronger position long-term if they keep this market fragmented…by handing their content to youtube…they become slaves to the master (that they created) in the long run.

This kind of thing happens in several categories (just happened in the real estate industry today with realogy corp agreeing to feed trulia all of its listings). It always amazes me to see how ignorant these so-called executives can be. They have the vision of blind men (and women). They cannot see that they are building competitors…and paying to do it.

Will youtube die because of google-envy? I think so. Could it crash faster than it grew? are there not a lot of other instances of this? I can’t see how it would hurt the media companies to crush youtube and get behind a few other services that design in the ad sharing revenue into the model from day one.

YouTube could really be in trouble. They built a brand quickly but now that others have caught up on technology YouTube is much less necessary. Could YouTube be the next Netscape?

I don’t see how online shows would drive more views to offline shows….so I would pull full clips from youtube and only shoe partial views

Let them all battle it out, more time for joost to get all the deals made with the networks. My opinion is joost will rule this space, but we will have to see. The real battle will begin when the high speed cable/dsl providers cry foul when we all start downloading tv shows on joost.

I’d be really surprised if any of the media companies partner for full content licensing with youtube. Ultimately Youtube is just a theatre and right now there’s lot of content (mostly pirated) but when that vanishes, who wants to go to a theatre playing nothing…..

the big reason why media companies are afraid to partner with google is because essentially google is saying you suck at online distribution and I/we have eyeballs and your best bet to survive is to take $500 MM and give me your content….the executives at media companies are thinking if we take an easy way out now, we might get wiped out in 10 years when today’s teenagers who spend so much time online will only watch videos on the internet…..so for them its the case of whether we should build our own website, which might be crappy to begin with but will improve later on….or feed this snake (figuratively speaking) who will eventually eat all of them….

BBC clearly says they won’t have full length shows and will only use youtube for promotional purposes and eventually drive traffic back to their website where they start to build some community…..which I think is the right way to go….

If Google is serious about this then they should really start talking to Jerry Bruckheimers of the world and getting content directly….

It is hard to detect on Alexa the alleged “sharp rise” in traffic, neither on
* MTV: http://www.alexa.com/data/deta.....mtv.com%2F
*Comedy Central: http://www.alexa.com/data/deta.....ntral.com/
nor
* Nickelodeon: http://www.alexa.com/data/deta.....eon.com%2F

I think there are going to be alot of winners and losers here. Wonder if Google is re-thinking their purchase of YouTube? When does Microsoft plan to step up their efforts? This battle may take years before any sense is made of it ..

Viacom is simply short sighted. Eventually the web will be similar to television - one medium with a bunch of channels. It’s ludicris to think that we’ll be visiting each of the content provider’s website to view their videos.

The only difference is that the public at large can also create their own channels. I’m not saying YouTube is perfect, but I can’t wait to see Verizon et al come crawling back if YouTube is successful. If Joost wins, well I’ll eat my words

Youtube will just be another waterhole - “I came, I saw and I go”….

pretty soon there will tons of these niche “youtubes” from the content providers and host their own clips. How’s GooTube going to compete then?

The $1b spend on youtube would be better spend had they got Myspace.

Hey y’all. Speaking of Fox and television shows, some bad news for Windows users.. http://myspace.com simply will not work on Vista. I’ve seen it with me own eyes.. It goes to the normal screen for about two seconds and then you get this error message. “FOX Video on Demand does not currently support computers running Windows Vista operating system. The site will support Windows Vista in the near future.” grrr.. Interesting thing. The url for the error (dns pointer) is here http://creative.myspace.com/VOD/support/vista.html Wahhh.. I want my 24….

correction Fox TV is available @ http://myspace.com/fox , not the root url…

I don’t remember the last time I visited youtube since Google purchased it. I’ve found other online video sites that work just the same. If the network companies can create a similar youtube with their content that people like to watch, well then Google will get its first big hit.

Youtube…really is gootube cause they’re in a sticky situation, and I smell something better coming from the media companies.

Who cares about content deals! People go to youtube to see Offbeat videos and not cbs or nbc show!

http://www.comonetwork.com

@ 19

“It’s ludicris to think that we’ll be visiting each of the content provider’s website to view their videos.”

I think that is exactly what the big broadcasters said about cable…no one will visit more than 3 channels. It is just silly. If you really want to watch a certain video…and it is only available at blah.com - you will go to blah.com. It is just as easy, if not easier, to click a ff bookmark as it is to navigate to a youtube channel.

@ 22

I agree…once google bought youtube…it just lost something. It went from cool to normal. And normal is boring.

The simple matter of fact is that GooTube is such an ugly platform to distribute your content on. It looks far too amateur. Why would I want my million dollar BBC doco right next to a video of a girl talking to her webcam. I want to distribute my content on par with what is equally of high quality.

Yes GooTube has revolutionised the way we watch media but no I don’t think they are the answer for taking us to the next step.

I much prefer Joost.

GooTube just seems too evil for me

Heres to seeing that YouTube is the albatross around Googles neck that brings this overhyped advertising company back to earth.

media companies hold the leverage here. youtube is set to become the next napster-like footnote in history. this space is just waiting for an ‘apple’ to strike a deal to meet market demand.

Fold together. Wrap it up. Forget.

Bring back the old, independent You Tube. Yes it was raw and stupid at times, but it was not corporate!!!!

“Once one networks breaks from the pack and starts to provide full length programs on YouTube in exchange for a share of advertising revenue, I expect the rest to fall in short order.”

I think this is exactly backwards. If one network does align itself with YouTube, the other networks will run like people avoiding the plague. The majors will never allow all their content to be aggregated by one provider who will then control them all. They each want to be the dominant media company and will not allow their content to be trivialized as “just another video on YouTube”.

I agree with John. Providing commercial content on YouTube will be the most useless thing they can do. People don’t care about “serious” content - they want funny content (that’s not good, but that’s true).

Billy: Exactly. As to my point above.

Youtube will be gone as we knew it before long. All the big media groups and new startups will slug it out as online tv, movies, and video establish dominance and popularity.

It will be fun to watch…..

Viacom is blowing smoke. Alexa traffic shows that their rank is going down not up.

I think CBS had a good experience with YouTube because they got attention from an audience that typically would ignore offerings from “The Tiffany Network.” But for MTV etc. the online video audience *is* their core audience - so of course the lack of YouTube clips sent these people flocking to the official sites.

Agree with John (25), Billy (33), Toszcze (34).
You Tube was sharing and still is, Broadcast / Joost, etc. is just publishing the traditional way, via Internet. The internet allows the media giants more channels, but there is still a publishing company / editor control behind, financed by ads, with conflict of interests, etc.

Aquiring YouTube, Google made it unattractive for the Studios, networks, etc. Why should 10 rabbits attack one snake ? The owner of Google and YouTube probably knew this.

Now since the snake (YouTube) now has to listen to the snake-charmer (google), it is taken out of the market / competition for media and advertising content almost completely.

But we can still upload our videos, as Chad / 31 explains the key business model of YouTube, therefore - as soon as quality of privately produced (HD-)videos and network bandwidth improve, why should that not remain to stay a market, even without a hype and with less ads.

Well, the hype is pretty dead, YouTube still there and even without the help of CBS, Viacom, Fox, RTL, etc. The question is not, whether to watch online, or offline TV, the question is: Do you want controlled half true company owned content or diverse half true private content - but in the this case the clicks and ratings tell you, whether its funny or true or not !

I feel that it’s the beginning of the end for Youtube. The days of “free-for-all” posting of copyrighted content are over and this spells doom for Youtube. I’ve experienced it first-hand: I used to be subscribed to several youtube users who used to post clips and highlights of tennis matches. These guys have a relatively large and loyal following from the tennis fans community. Several weeks ago, I went to youtube and realized their accounts were suspended. As a result, I will visit youtube far less frequently from now on and I’m sure there are and will be thousands and thousands of people who will start doing the same.

Youtube’s rise to fame is almost solely due to copyrighted materials — they are the main attractions. Speaking from personal experience, the great majority of youtube videos that my friends, co-workers and family members sent me were copyrighted stuff. Good and original “copyfree” contents are few and far in between — surely not enough to attract and retain millions of websurfers.

The Youtube acquisition will probably turn out to be a low ROI move by Google. But hey, this fat cat still has plenty of dough in the bank; certaintly enough for the employees to keep working in Wonderland of Luxury and Excess… for now.

The site is really slow right now, especially with the player constantly trying to load itself.http://www.hotdvdtools.com