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March 11, 2008

What Does YouTube Have Up Its Sleeve? Guess Right, And Win An iPod Shuffle.

Erick Schonfeld

276 comments »

youtiube-logo.pngYouTube is making a big announcement tomorrow morning. Could it be live-streaming? (We’re told not). High-definition video? A partnership with Hulu? (That would be so hot). A new Website design? Dialing up the advertising? Another way to get on mobile phones or big-screen TVs? Or as was leaked in February, better video-editing tools, personal video recommendations, better advertiser analytics, or new “tentpole” content (The YouTube Games, Living Legends, The YouTube Global Gathering)?

We’re not sure. If it is none of the above, and you are the first person to guess correctly in comments, we will send you 2 GB iPod Shuffle (you must include your real e-mail address in the comment form for us to be able to reach you). If it is one of the above options, then we’ll give the iPod Shuffle away randomly (or to the best overall comment as determined by me).

Given the public launch of Hulu tomorrow, that would be my guess. (And, no, I am not eligible for the iPod prize). A partnership between the two video sites would make sense. YouTube is already sharing advertising dollars with other media companies and producers of popular videos. Why would Hulu be any different? Speculate away.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. YouTube Video Quality Soon Will Not Suck | TechConsumer

    March 11th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

  2. .: GAFNO.com - Hot World News Blog :. » Blog Archive » Report: YouTube to make ‘big announcement’ Wednesday

    March 11th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

  3. TechCrunch DeadPooled My Company And All I Got Was This Lousy iPod Shuffle

    March 27th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

  4. TechCrunch DeadPooled My Company And All I Got Was This Lousy iPod Shuffle » Club Coffee Bean » Daily internet news clips

    March 29th, 2008 at 10:32 am

Comments

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  1. Chris

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    This was on digg like 10 thousand times. They are releasing high def videos. It was already in beta.

  2. Andrew

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    they are going to do a Democrat vs Republican debate for the general election

  3. Steve Elbows

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    h.264 video via flash as standard in the normal web version of youtube.

  4. Isaac

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    …a shuffle?…guess you read Michael’s article about saving money…

  5. Chris

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    http://forevergeek.com/news/yo.....lution.php

    add &fmt=6 to the video url. Not all of them have been converted yet though.

  6. Max

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    partnership with hulu

  7. Keith Duarte

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    none of the above

  8. Nag

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    It’s got to be one of these

    - Ads
    - Or uTube Channel on Cable

    Cheers, Nag

  9. uhuh

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    marrying me….

  10. Max

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am

    adsense for video

  11. Steve Elbows

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am

    Chris yeah I think &fmt=6 gives a higher quality .flv version of the video, and fmt=18 gives a h264 one, if available. But as they havent publically launched this as far as I know, its my guess for tomorrows announcement. Still as it feels like forever that Ive been waiting for better youtube quality, I could well be wrong again.

  12. Daniel

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:56 am

    An angry squirrel waving DMCA notices and flinging poo!

    I know I’ll win so just send the iPod now and spare the rest of the commenters the work!

  13. Daniel

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Also, a YouTube integration with Urkut and social network functions embedded in the site..

  14. Ntale

    March 11th, 2008 at 11:57 am

    They are releasing user-generated live broadcasting.

  15. Bosta

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    A porn section…

  16. karan

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    they are announcing high definition video streaming

  17. Michael

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    Better video-editing tools

  18. Bradley

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    It will be similiar to Hulu but in High Definition format.

    This time, Im hoping they will add close captioning option as well :-)

  19. Psilens

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    Most probably it will be YouTube partnering with Hulu to provide Ads for Hulu’s videos.

    On the extreme, YouTube acquisition of Hulu (hehe) to provide higher quality video :) Is that even possible on a public launch?

    Or if it’s not an acquisition, it’s probably Hulu high def videos on YouTube (more income for both of them, maybe)

    Can I hit multiple guesses with this post?

    One last guess, ads for youtube videos AND revenue share program worldwide (i wish) :)

  20. Brad Jashinsky

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    Since Erick has taken all of the great guesses I’m going to stretch my mind, and say that it’s a big partnership with a leading content company that will make full shows legally available in HD. A good way to get legal content, and a great way to slowly introduce HD content.

  21. Randy

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    HD

  22. chris

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    distribution partnership with a major us sports video group?

  23. Stacey

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Since you can’t win the shuffle, i take your idea and guess … partnership with Hulu.

  24. Jason Jenkins

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Product Placement advertising. ALL content will become advertising platforms with the users in the content serving as the models. You will see a clip of an average hip hop concert, but you will be able to click on the turntables or the shirt and it will take you right to the ecommerce page WITHOUT closing the video. We are using amazons new video widget for pop up placement, but I would love to see YOUTUBE offer products more intergrated into the clips. Any ideas?

  25. Chris

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    They’re closing down the shop because the population of the planet is not capable of generating any more jerky, fuzzy footage of some dude taking it in the nuts riding a skateboard.

  26. Erick Schonfeld

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    Ooh, a cable channel could be interesting. Good one, Nag.

    Think big, folks. So that we can all be disappointed tomorrow. :)

  27. sean percival

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    HD powered Hulu Hoops with Adsense

  28. Nick

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    all of the above?

  29. wolfie

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    YouTube is so passe; who really cares what they’re announcing?

  30. Shawn Riley

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    H.264 AND a partnership with Hulu is my guess…the double douse anouncement

  31. Ranjit Mathoda

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    They are going to announce copyright holders can upload works that users must pay to access. Just a guess…

  32. Ian

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    Youtube Pro: all the self-obsessed, webcam produced content of Youtube in higher def and no ads.

    Or, Youtube Wars: a game show which places 12 people in a house with various personal video cameras at their disposal. Each week, the person who garners the fewest views/comments/poorest ratings on their videos is kicked out of the house.

    Both ideas were jokes, but the second seems disturbingly possible.

  33. justin

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    Revenue sharing based on user-generated channels of content, similar to Brightcove. If I post a video series on poker playing and those views generate $100 in ad revenue, YouTube shares 10% with me. Something along those lines.

  34. Niraj

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    I think they’ll go public with their personalized pages with the recommendations that they’ve been beta-testing here:
    http://www.youtube.com/iyt

  35. Dylan

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    HD

  36. Ian

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    Seriously now, tools to make Youtube videos into display ads.

  37. Kevin

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    competing product to brightcove for artists to embed videos in social networks and get paid + embedded adsense

  38. Joe

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    YouTube application for Tivo

  39. Davin Peterson

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    Why are you giving away an iPod. What about the Creative Zen? The Creative Zen Stone is better than the iPod shuffle, as it includes a screen, and now the plus includes a built-in speaker. The ZEN stone can support any music file - no structure unlike the locked iPod

  40. Bob

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    If they are making a porn section, they gotta call it boobtube. I’ve been calling TV that since I was 5.

    High definition is 90% the likeliest (that is an awesome word to spell) option.

    I would love it if they annouced a Truman Show like YouTube channel. I could totally see Google being the first corporation to own and raise a child, legally.

  41. Rehan

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    They bought or partnering with Stage6

  42. James

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    User interface redesign.

  43. Technical Guy

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    API for third-party uploads. That is, if a developer wanted to run a video sharing site, YouTube will host the videos and do the encoding.

  44. CC

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    Upload API/White Labeling

  45. Benoit

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    video tagging

  46. Varun Mahajan

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    HD Video

  47. doug m

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    maybe it’s a new content voting system similar to mixx or digg.

  48. Debajit Sarkar

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Better video editing tools

  49. Ron

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Integration with a video game platform.

  50. joan

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Live movie streaming, ad supported and high def for those willing to pay for it.
    They signed a distribution deal with movie & TV studios.
    The best part is not the news itself but the user revolt after the announcement because the users will be left out, once again.
    Youtube won’t pull another Lacy but the aftershow will have a Lacy kind of effect among the users / smaller content providers.

    I will take the iphone, but you need to jailbreak it.

    What, no iphone?

  51. AlexL

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    For profit video downloads. Users can download high definition versions of certain videos for a fee, and youtube and the video uploader both get a cut.

  52. Matt

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Hulu partnership

  53. Robin Wauters

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    AdSense for videos?

  54. Greg

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

    They’ve found a way to filter out the videos that are crap. This will remove 90% of their content, with most of the remaining 10% being copyright-violating network content, and the rest being very high-quality amateur content.

    What I’m saying is that YouTube will actually turn into Hulu. It’s no coincidence that Hulu is launching the same day as a big YouTube announcement.

  55. un.valley

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    they purchased yahoo in an all stock deal.

  56. AR

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    write-down of the $1.65bn purchase price

  57. Balke Macho

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    YouTube as a platform. More developer tools/better APIs to power video on other sites (channels). Upload from third-party sites, search within the site, some kind of monetization model to go with it that will be announced but not yet released.

  58. Nav

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    Partnership with Hulu to stream their HD content (boo yea)

  59. Jrome

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    A chat section just next to the video, to discuss with other youtubers
    or
    Integration within Google Apps (to edit video collaboratively)

  60. Badly Drawn Boston Boy

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    I like the whole white labelling thing brought up.

    It’s probably HD ad supported video.

    I’d like to see youtube on my blackberry…

  61. Courtney Mlinar

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    YouTube interactive video programs- like a Skype and YouTube mashup.

  62. Auston

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    YouTube is going be available on Cable Networks as a Channel….

    That’s definitely the best comment!

  63. Auston

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    WTF I hate reading that someone else had my idea!

  64. Nick

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Ninja/Pirate channel. Only videos including ninjas, or pirates. Not both though. Showing both at once would cause users’ heads to explode.

  65. 3d

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    shutdown of commenters who are rude jerks perhaps?

  66. Auston

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    YouTube will be producing a device based on technology for the Frequency Google is bidding on, using the Android platform to film and upload live videos from your Android phone, which can plug into your TV so that you can watch YouTube Video’s on your Plasma.

  67. John

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Turns out it was high def. They already posted a video from the internal developers explaining how it all works:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

  68. David

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Porn.

  69. Matt

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    Tighter integration with Adsense. Video publishers will finally be able to profit (even if YouTube itself still can’t).

  70. Gerald

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    It could be a deal with TiVo — I have seen the car of a lawyer from TiVo on site at Google!

  71. Jeff

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    User broadcast forums that allow groups of users to have face-to-face discussions. Service would be integrated with Video Chat services such as AOL, iChat and Google Talk (now with video!).

  72. Adam Hyman

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    Alright, we know its high def by now. But what WOULD be cool, would be an editing program for videos, where you can insert objects, and paid for product placement.

    Just like the movies / tv gets money for product placement - but on youtube.

    That would mean good videos can get more money - which would make it more financially viable for people to make good content for youtube only.

  73. Adam Hyman

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    also what would be cool, would be a chat room on popular videos.

    each video would have its own chat room.

  74. Brian Johnson

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    iTunes integration - finally…

  75. Dito

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

    Higher Quality Video and Partnerships with Networks/Studios.

  76. snyggast

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

    White labeling as mentioned above like AOL Userplane.
    with a video recorder via webcam / upload with revenue sharing.

    But I don’t see how Youtube/Google can beat Userplane’s api. Check this out:

    http://wiki.userplane.com/docs.....ebrecorder

  77. drew olanoff

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    Search within content.

  78. Olivier Lalonde

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    They will make an offer to buy Yahoo? lol.

  79. Atlantic

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    Partnership with TiVo !!!!!!

  80. Joke Cricket

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    They are going to buy my blog for $ 100m.

    http://jokecricket.blogspot.com/

  81. slayamuffin

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    They´ll launch a space program and partner with Richard Branson and Virgin to broadcast YouTube Vids in all their flights. LOL!! Theyll have they´r own cable channel, but it´ll be interactive and work thru comments. As the program evolves, the YouTube TV channel will become the most 2.0 network in the world and theyll finally buy all the nuclear plants in the planet and bring peace to all mankind!! =P

    Jezz…guess thats tooo utopic…but some part may come true…

  82. Cornel

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    YouTube AIR that brings YouTube to the desktop!

  83. Adwait Ullal

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Advertising revenue sharing to take the shine off Hulu’s announcement

  84. Lucas

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Perhaps they’ll ditch flash in favor of SilverLight.

  85. hcl4

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    Its definetely going to be HQ video. In fact some videos already have a link where they allow you to watch the video in higher quality.

  86. Jeffrey

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    Higher def video!

  87. Jughead

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    They will be the first show the beheading of Calcanis

  88. Sherwin

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    youtube api upload?

  89. un.valley

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    channel dedicated to dance videos.

  90. Samson

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    The YouTube online film academy. To teach people how to create somewhat sensible videos.

    or

    Perhaps some sort of reputation system for users, so that those who create or at least consistently upload good videos are the basis of the search results.

    When I search for movies, its often the person who made it that matters more then the “keyword” match.

  91. H.Envent

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

    They will announce their own multimedia player that would competes with flash and silverlight.

  92. Cavenger

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Word.

  93. Dan London

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    A NETFLIX partnership.

    BAM!

    just send it to me now, sweaty man

  94. John

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Something to do with searching for things using a computer and displaying the results in a way that will make money for someone somewhere.

  95. hugo

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    youtube hosted video advertising for small businesses pushed to current adword locations and new tools for tracking viral video reach

  96. Shawn

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    they are releasing an instant messaging platform. It’s called ICQ-tube. Anyone? ICQ? Hmm?

  97. Matt Nicole

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Slightly less sucky video quality.

    (Just less sucky enough to make people not use yet another video site)

  98. Louis

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Filming average computer users through their monitors?

  99. Bulent

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    live video streaming

  100. Steve Weiss

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

    A video ad network

  101. Rob Blatt

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    they’ll launch a slew of services at once. Live streaming, high def video with new content partners and one out of the blue service that will make people wonder what the hell they were thinking.

  102. Noam Lovinsky

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Video platform. Enabling any site to create video applications such as a sharing site or perhaps a content management system for a podcaster.

  103. Brian

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    ASCII video conversion.

  104. Darren Stuart

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    video timeline commenting.

  105. Rohit Dave

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Hi-Def videos and overlay ads

  106. Mgccl

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    Streaming from any point of the video.say… start streaming from half of the video, so the beginning of the video don’t need to be loaded.
    Continue streaming. If the internet breaks, streaming can continue when internet goes back
    A powerful API.
    Can directly copy video from other sites.

  107. Sarah Meyers

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    It won’t be live video streaming, although I did break that news, because the announcement is bigger than that:

    It’s going to be better quality video.

    That’s my guess and my inclination is from when I last spoke to Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.

    Maybe your right and it has to do with Hulu, but I bet you’re wrong.

  108. You |\/\/\/|

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    You tube video is going to play some other format and player instead of flash video or Flash player.

  109. Robert Schultz

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Hulu Partnership + Advertising Deal.

  110. charles b

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    my bet is that youtube is announcing a white label service for content producers that allows them to integrate the youtube ui into their own sites, have the content hosted and indexed into youtube, thereby creating their own content communities that are walled off but integrated into the youtube space at the same time.

    this would be very cool.

  111. justin

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    YouTube acquires Tudou.

  112. Shawn R

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    A partnership with Sony or Panasonic to incorporate a “YouTube” button on their camera that will upload video directly to the site.

    Has this been done already? I have no clue. Just a guess.

  113. Zach Weisman

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Facial recognition empowered search. Most of the good stuff has already been taken but this would be a pretty cool feature.

  114. Will Johnston

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Better music licensing, the explicit right to actually upload videos using music from the companies they have agreements with, rather than just entirely replacing the audio content after upload.

  115. Joey Nhan

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    They will merge with Myspace ?

  116. Midland Texas Al

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    They’re teaming up with a editing software or a camcorder hardware company that automatically gives the user the ability to post their videos to you tube after editing. There are currently tons of video going up on a daily basis but imagine if everyone that shot video new how to post it on YouTube????? It would increase uploads by 100000%. Now monetize… Now monetize….. oh ok. you have to buy the software. What the hell do i know, i’m in the middle of nowhere!!!!!

  117. HA!

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    I truly hope it involves more user generated porn!

  118. Jack Theperson

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Probably a option to watch better quality videos…and much more intrusive adds (no sidebar adds, just begining of the video adds)

  119. Martha

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    chocolate rain dude is new CEO.

  120. Dawson Jones

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    A complete redesign… hopefully… they had the same lame design forever!

  121. Dave

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Full-length hollywood movies for free, ad-supported.

  122. college forum

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Tomorrows announcement?

    TubeCrunch - Michael Arrington will partner with youtube and only video blog starting at the end of April.

  123. Jeffrey

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    It would be about Android and related to it. Like an upgrade or a new cellphone branded with Google.

  124. allcoldinside

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    My guess? PC/Mac-based freeware app to convert/upload/download for site and portables…

  125. Sam

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Seesmic like service.

  126. Paly

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    They’re buying Facebook for $12 Trillion

  127. Daniel

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    What I would like to see: Buing stage6.com and giving HD Artists a scene again!

  128. Johan

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Pre-roll video ads

  129. Phil

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    One word: porn

  130. miguel

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Conversation service like seesmic. Support for webcam to record replies to other videos.

  131. Zach Weisman

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    client side bulk avi to youtube video conversion… This could be a downloadable program or perhaps a webapp that will use resources on the client computer to convert large avi files from digicams to youtube ready videos before uploading….(sort of like how facebook’s java app bulk compresses images before upload)…

  132. Dan

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    My guess is they will move into other media like pictures and try and take on flickr.

  133. John Lynn

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    They’re going to share advertising with all those content producers that upload to YouTube kind of like Google Adsense. No more restrictions to just the big players.

    An upload API would be logical also and has been “on the list” since last year.

    How about Hulu style embedding of just clips of the YouTube videos.

    Finally I’ll take new advertising methods that go on top of the videos.

  134. Vinay

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    I bet its gonna be something related with LiveStreaming which is already one of your option and which you have covered earlier. But thats not the story.. lets wait for the big announcement…!

    My Answer: LiveStreaming

    Optional Choice: HD Video (integration)! Fingers crossed for iPod :) !!

    Cheers!