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July 3, 2008
Judge Protects Google Source Code, But Not YouTube UsersRemember when Google and Viacom were friends? Ah, those were the days. But not anymore. Over a year ago, Viacom filed suit against Google for the copyright infringment found on YouTube videos. In the latest plot point in the ongoing saga, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has ruled that Google can keep its source code secret, but must hand over user logs for the popular video sharing site.
Viacom says it wanted the code to prove that Google could use it to "purposely" find the content in question. Nice try, Viacom. Google's code, of course, is a trade secret. But it's almost a wonder the judge protected the code, because he ruled that Viacom can have access to the user logs. Data to be released includes user names, IP addresses, and videos watched.
Google has often defended its data collection, saying it's not a threat to privacy. It appears the argument worked a little too well on Judge Stanton.
For a history of the Google-Viacom battle, check out these links: Google Fights Back in Viacom/YouTube Copyright Suit Others Join YouTube, Google Copyright Lawsuit Viacom Would Rather Not Sue, Chief Counsel Claims Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube
Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 10, 2008
Lauren Bernat Google YouTube Wii-Fit Social Media SensationThe LA Times and the UK Telegraph beat us to the punch on this video search engine sensation. We didn't want to be left out of the loop now that Lauren Bernat has become one of Google Trends hourly "Hot Trends" and Dugg by thousands.
The LA Times reported that Giovanny Gutierrez, director of Interactive Media at Tinsley Advertising in Florida, recorded his girlfriend, Lauren, playing the Wii Fit hula hoop game. When he posted it on YouTube, the video scored 500,000 views and racked up a monstrous 9,000 Diggs.
Gutierrez has said that even though he works at an advertising firm, the video wasn't a viral ad for Wii, even if it really should have been.
"She loves Wii Fit" he told the Times, and "looks hot doing it."
How did she react when she found out that he'd posted the video without telling her, and that hundreds of thousands of Wii fans were now drooling over her?
"She was FURIOUS," wrote Gutierrez, who said she "called me on the phone screaming her head off and then hung up on me."
"But now [she] finds herself actually laughing about it and enjoying her 15 minutes of fame as the Wii Fit girl. It's just crazy how it's blown up."
The sensational social media Wii Fit search engine video after the jump:
Here's the video of Lauren Bernat filmed by her boyfriend, entitled "Wii Fit - Why You Should Buy It For Your Girlfriend."
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 27, 2008
Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTubeViacom President and CEO Philippe Daumann joined Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft, onstage last Wednesday at the Microsoft advance '08 client sumnmit to discuss the Future of Search. They didn't discuss copyright infringement or Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. Perhaps they should have.
Google, YouTube's owner, claims the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit questioning YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off YouTube.com threatens the free exchange of information on the Internet.
Google's lawyers filed papers on Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in response to Viacom's lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.
Viacom filed its lawsuit last year, asking for damages for the unauthorized viewing of programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Colbert Show" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google claimed YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."
By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Google said Viacom "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."
Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.
On that count, Viacom says Google has failed miserably.
The Associated Press reports that in a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.
Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming — including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" — that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."
The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.
It said Google and YouTube had done "little or nothing" to stop infringement.
"To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan," Viacom said.
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 19, 2008
YouTube Adds Query Suggestions for SearchYouTube has announced the addition of query suggestions for search. In case you're not aware, query suggestions are search suggestions that pop up once you start typing a search.
The announcement said that you have to opt in to the suggestions using the "advanced" link next to the search button. But I'm getting suggestions without doing the opt in.
YouTube has also added a contact importer and improvements to the inbox.
Related Reading: YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix Google Launches YouTube Insight - Google Analytics Lite
Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
April 30, 2008
iGoogle: O Pop, Where Art Thou? Jeff Koons, Wiggles, La CicciolinaGoogle commissioned Jeff Koons, the controversial modern artist, to create graphic images for iGoogle backgrounds. Koons' Google Doodle today features his interpretation of (chrome) tulips. "Where art thou?" asks Marissa Mayer, VP of search products & user experience, in her official blog post this morning:
"Did you notice the chrome tulips on Google's homepage today? They are part of a special Google doodle done by renowned artist Jeff Koons. And that isn't the only art appearing anew on Google today. As part of our iGoogle Artists project, we have collaborated with almost 70 artists in 17 countries on 6 continents to create special iGoogle themes -- works of art that appeal to all ages and interests."Our response: "O Brother, Google, where art thousands of dollars going?" Or perhaps, "O Pop, Where Art Thou?"
Most of the time, the controversy about Koons -- at 53-years old modern art's aging bad boy -- centers on whether he's a brilliant artist or the emperor's new clothes.
Jeff Koons isn't the only Google artist designing for iGoogle: non-artist artists like UK rockers Coldplay and U.S. kiddieboppers The Wiggles (shown below); fashion designers Mark Ecko (rhino logo) and Diane von Furstenburg (wife of Ask.com owner Barry Diller of IAC); architects Phillipe Starck (W Hotels) and Michael Graves; and New Yorker cartoonist Robert Mankoff.
Why in the world would a world-famous artist like Jeff Koons hire himself out for graphic design work?
It seems the multimillionaire artist and ex-husband of an ex-porn star may need the moolah.
Jeff Koons famously married a European porn star, La Cicciolina ("fleshy one"), after hiring her as his muse for photos, paintings and sculptures.
The artwork Koons spawned from their union was graphic but not graphic in a Googley design way. Think NSFW: sexually explicit in a flashy, fleshy Paris Hilton - Britney Spears - Lindsay Lohan kind of way. The only difference? Koons' sculptures starred Jeff and (as Brit wits might say) his naughty bits.
A few weeks ago, La Cicciolina, AKA Ilona Staller, sued her ex-husband, Jeffrey Koons, for $2.4 million dollars (1.5 million euros) in child support for their 15-year old son, Ludwig Maximilian Koons, according to papers filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court.
Child support payments of 15,000 euros a month were ordered by an Italian court in June 2007. Koons has only paid 191,426 euros for child support during the roughly nine year period (Oct 1998 - Dec 2007), leaving a balance owed of about 1.5 million euros.
Staller starred in X-rated films in Italy as La Cicciolina before she was elected to serve as a member of Italy’s parliament for five years.
After the jump we have a two-minute clip from the Sundance Channel: fashion designer "Tom Ford on Jeff Koons" from the Iconoclast series. You can see what Jeff Koons Safe-For-Work art is all about in a SFW video.
AP reported that after their divorce in New York in 1994, Koons was given custody of their infant son. A judge ordered that the child remain in New York. In June of 1994, Staller slipped away from Koons’ security guards and escaped to Italy with the boy.
When the divorce and custody issues were litigated again in Italy, Staller, an Italian citizen, was granted a divorce. After appealing, she received custody of the boy.
Koons piled up legal bills of almost $4 million trying to bring his son back from Italy. So maybe we can call this Google's "No Child Left Behind" Pop Art campaign.
Here's Tom Ford explaining the art of Jeff Koons, whose work has been displayed at London’s Royal Academy, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain:
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:47 PM | Permalink
April 16, 2008
Divorce by YouTube: Tricia Walsh-Smith Searches for Revenge?Google's YouTube is the dominant video search engine in the world. So if you're looking for a "divorce" where else would you search? YouTube divorce, naturally.
Divorce by YouTube? Sure, we can think of lots of ways online video could lead to marital dis-bliss. But using YouTube to prevent a divorce? Brilliant.
Apparently that's the thinking - or lack thereof - behind UK actress and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith. She lives in New York (Park Avenue!), sometimes with her husband, Schubert Organization President Phil Smith, the broadway impresario who's evicting her from their posh apartment.
That's the set for this UGC reality show. Getting picked up by one of the cable networks, though, or another millionaire is a likely outcome for Ms. Walsh-Smith, who joins the short but impressive list of women scorned who exacted their pound of flesh online.
In the late '80s, "Trish the Dish Best Served Cold" wrote the now quite appropriately named play, Bonkers. Several of her plays, including' "Addictions," "Change the Day" and "The Last Journey," are scheduled to open in London this year.
Her rant replaces what the UK Telegraph journalist Aislinn Simpson revealed as a bizarre but effective revenge plot - at least to Desperate American Housewives: "stuffing fish fingers" in the curtain rod.
Of course in the Battle of the Ex-es and Sex(es) in the City, men aren't sitting idly by while women take over the search engine world. (Unless you're the famously eBay-ted Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales who had his wiki waxed by ex-girlfriend airing his dirty laundry on eBay.)
Try a YouTube search for keyword ''crazy ex-girlfriend voicemail."
See the full uncensored and unexpurgated video rant after the jump:
If you're outraged by this Search Engine Watch investigative report on YouTube divorce, send me a message (140 characters or less) at: http://twitter.com/kevinheisler
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:47 AM | Permalink
April 1, 2008
YouTube Crime Scam Solved on April Fool's DayA 24 year-old woman who used a YouTube video to accuse 3 male youths of raping her has been arrested by Scotland Yard after it was determined the video was a scam and the woman is now charged with suspicion of underage sex and perverting the course of justice.
YouTube had been criticized for allowing the video to be published and how long it took them to get it down.
Two of the boys accused were 16 and one was 14, their arrest for rape had been dismissed and no further action will be taken, according to the UK Sun.
In the video the woman looked like she was drugged and then assaulted, the Sun stated.
Posted by Frank Watson at 11:17 PM | Permalink
Risk Astley and More April Fools Day GoodnessHappy April Fool's Day everyone, or, as we call it in Israel, Monday! But it does give me the opportunity to be awake (hopefully) before everyone else and report on how the various search engines and websites you generally trust are messing with you today.
YouTube is rickrolling everyone today. If you've never been rickroll'd, buy a computer and exit the safety bunker you've been living in for the past ten years. Go to YouTube today and just try not to get rickroll'ed. LiveJournal is following suite by adding Rick Astley to their Advisory Board. They even gave him an LJ page!
Google is partnering with Richard Branson to create Virgle, which will aim to populate Mars.
WikiAnswers is answering a series of ridiculous questions today, like "Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road?"
Wikipedia may actually be the funniest destination this April Fool's Day, with their entire Main Page dedicated to jokes and nonsense. All the links lead to real articles, but don't take anything else serious today, except for news.
Gmail just added CustomTime, which allows to send (10) emails up to 6 hours earlier. Never be late again (again meaning 10 times). Take advantage of Google's e-flux capacitor, which I'm guessing was developed with Doc Brown.
As more happens, I'll keep you updated.
Posted by Eli Feldblum at 5:36 AM | Permalink
March 27, 2008
Google Launches YouTube Insight - Google Analytics LiteToday Google video search engine YouTube launched a free Web analytics tool.
Think Google Analytics Lite: it's essentially a way to see how popular a video is over time combined with a global map that shows where it's popular.
The map? It's identical to Google Analytics. Hmmm, wonder if it will ever be integrated into the Google Analytics platform?
Google announced the tool in a blog post after midnight EDT stating Insight enables anyone with a YouTube account to view "detailed statistics" about the videos they upload.
So what insights will YouTube Insight provide?
1. how often a video's viewed in different geographic regions 2. how popular it is relative to all videos in a market over a period of time 3. how long until a video becomes popular (the fuzziest of fuzzy metrics) 4. what happens to video views as popularity peaks
What happens to video views when popularity peaks?
They go up? Then they go down?
If anybody knows for sure, ping me.
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:54 AM | Permalink
March 18, 2008
YouTube: Damon Wayans Pay-to-Play, Paid Inclusion or Pay-for-Placement?At SES NY, John Battelle outted Damon Wayans, Google and YouTube.
Battelle said Wayans spilled the beans on his YouTube deal as a "platinum partner" for WayOutTV.com.
Wayans shared he was guaranteed 60 million impressions by YouTube. Those 60 million impressions -- guaranteed -- sounds very much like the structure of a MySpace-style minimum revenue deal. Plus, Wayans shared his YouTube rev share number. Wow.
Everything advertisers need to know about video search but were afraid to ask.
That officially makes Google a publisher not a technology company, in Battelle's view. The SES crowd didn't argue, though Google's universal search guru, Jack Menzel, product manager, Google Search, said the number may have been an estimate of the minimum number of impressions expected.
In February, Damon Wayans launched WayOutTV.com in collaboration with Google’s YouTube. WayOutTV.com features videos produced by stand-up comedians selected by Wayans, the film and TV star.
He was in town promoting his YouTube deal on a panel moderated by Battelle at AdAge's Digital Marketing Conference ("a new crop of stars in town who've grown their celebrity via MySpace pages, YouTube channels and videos gone viral. And now, of course, they're celebrity spokespeople.").
YouTube needs branded entertainment for Google to succeed as a media company. WayOutTV.com is not unlike Will Ferrell’s FunnyorDie.com and the lesser known MyDamn-Content.com by Harry Shearer.
film and TV satires shows such as Hollywood Shuffle, I’m Gonna Git YouSucka, and In Living Color, where Jim Carrey and J-Lo launched their careers.
George Alexander, business entertainment columnist at blackenterprise.com noted, "As the Web proves to be a place for more and more content providers to introduce their product to audiences, analysts contend that branding will be the key competitive advantage to an increasingly cluttered marketplace."
Alexander noted because barriers to entry are low, and anyone with a digital video camera, a computer, can upload a video on YouTube, name recognition and quality will determine who wins eyeballs and repeat visitors.
"With the name Wayans, Damon could clearly be way ahead of the pack."
Not to mention starring as YouTube's The 60 Million Impression Man.
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:28 PM | Permalink
March 11, 2008
Hulu Launches -- Takes "You" Out of YouTube, Puts Copyright InHulu, the video search engine for copyrighted and trademarked entertainment, will premiere Wednesday.
It will be a minor Internet miracle if the GE-NewsCorp JV Web site can keep up with online demand and search engine searchers.
Get ready for the Invasion of the YouTube Snatchers. The iPod people are coming ... and their PC'ed.
Are you searching for The Simpsons?
Can't find The Big Lebowski?
Is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in your database of intentions?
Do you need to do a local search for Mulholland Drive? Can't find it on Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Eath or on YouTube (legally)?
Hulu promises to run hoops around YouTube. The NBA and the NHL will deliver sports programming.
News Corp, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate will showcase films.
There's even a SuperBowl Ad Gallery for the search marketers ready to take over TV budgets and bounce traditional advertising agencies from the upfronts.
No doubt YouTube will feel pressure to protect copyrights and clean up trademark infringement.
The message from Hulu? Monetize this.
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:32 PM | Permalink
February 14, 2008
YouTube New Features - A Marketer's PerspectiveIt's been an interesting week for YouTube this week--especially for those of us working in SMO or SMM (social media marketing), who spend our days marketing clients through YouTube videos. On Tuesday, YouTube abruptly stopped counting and updating views for all videos. The "blackout" lasted about 40 hours, and during that time no videos moved in or out of Most Viewed lists, other than those that expired (i.e. they had been uploaded more than 48 hours ago and so could no longer be in the Most Viewed Today list).
YouTube has admitted that they were having server problems, and that does seem to ring true. View counts have generally been updated at a slower pace recently, and many users have complained about issues watching newly uploaded videos. Some users think the view count freeze was a response to the plethora of Anonymous-vs-Scientology videos that have flooded the front page of YouTube recently. Whether that's true or not is up for debate. The Tom Cruise video remains on the site, and the Anonymous warning remains high on the Most Viewed for the Month list. The freeze count did occur on the same day as videos from global Scientology protests from the day before were uploaded, so it's hard to tell whether YouTube subscribes to the "Don't Be Evil" motto of its parent.
While the servers were acting up, the brains behind YouTube were at YouTube’s Videocracy event in New York, where they debuted some cool new features for the video sharing site, including: * Video recommendations based on your viewing habits * Active Sharing * Better Video Editing Tools * Multiple Platform Distribution * Advanced Analytics for view of your video
For marketers, the last point seems most important. Currently, you can only see the same data about your video that everyone else sees: how many views, comments and ratings the video received; the honors it acquired; and the top 5 sources of embedded views. These new analytics will give video publishers the ability to see where the viewers are geographically, and will hopefully give a breakdown of embedded views vs YouTube views, bounce rates, average time spent on the video, view/subscription and/or view/channel visit rates and other demographics—as well a complete list of embeds driving views.
This is the data we’ve been waiting for, that will finally let YouTube marketers know what methods work—and the real, intrinsic value of each view. Do some videos lead to more subscriptions? Do some videos appeal to a certain demographic? Are people watching the entire video—and which people are not leaving immediately?
Video recommendations and multiple platform distribution are important too. Finetuning your YouTube video collection could potentially mean someone watching more of your videos on TV, and a much larger potential audience. All these changes taken together should mean more views for savvy YouTube marketers—provided they fix those servers!
Posted by Eli Feldblum at 6:43 PM | Permalink
February 13, 2008
YouTube Channel launched for SES London 2008Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at ComScore Media Metrix, recently told the Los Angeles Times that the writers strike drove a record number of restive viewers to the Internet in December. It was the single heaviest month for online video viewing since ComScore started tracking such results back in January 2007. People watched more than 10 billion video streams on their computers, including CrunchGear.com’s hands-on with TI’s prototype Android phone, which had drawn 30,911 views on YouTube as of this morning.
In fact, YouTube has been the biggest beneficiary of this trend, as the number of videos streamed on the site surged 12% from November to December. That’s well above the steady growth rate in online video consumption, Lipsman told the LA Times. The average time visitors spent watching videos online increased seven minutes from 104 to 111 minutes a month.
So, it seems like the perfect time for Search Engine Strategies to launch its own YouTube Channel – the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel – just before SES London gets underway next week.
The Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference & Expo Channel currently has three video clips – but more will be added during next week’s event, which is being held at the Business Design Centre in London, UK, from February 19-22, 2008. That’s in Islington, mate! The top video clip, which was added yesterday, features and interview with Rebecca Lieb, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the ClickZ Network, about AOL’s prospects in light of Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo. The interview originally appeared on CNBC’s Media Money program on February 4, 2008. The video clip was provided by Ann Shannon and the team at PAN Communications.
In fact, the recent possibilities presented with a Microsoft/Yahoo combination will be discussed at Search Engine Strategies London during The Keynote Roundtable: The Changing Search World. Attendees will have front row seats to these industry-shaping events as they unfold.
Following an introduction from Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, a group of search experts and analysts will discuss the impact of these changes in an interactive format. Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, will be the moderator. The speakers include: Mike Grehan, SES London Co-Chair and Founder and CEO, Searchvisible Ltd.; Steven Kaufman, SVP Media Director, Digitas; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc.; and Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar.
Also on the SES YouTube Channel is a video clip with Market Motive’s CEO Michael Stebbins and CTO John Marshall, which was added a week ago. They discuss the company’s on-demand video training, Q&A and direct conference calls with six of the top online marketing consultants – several of whom are speaking at SES London. John and Michael also explain their partnership with SES London and the special offer that they’re making to conference attendees: a free month’s subscription to MarketMotive.com.
For those of you who admire the quality of the videography, it was shot and edited by John Zukowski of Azimuth Productions / Video San Francisco.
Finally, the third YouTube video for SES London is my interview with Nick Carr, who will also be a keynote Speaker at SES New York. I chat with Nick about his new book, The Big Switch, which examines the future of computing and its implications for business and society, and about his introduction to The Keynote Roundtable at Search Engine Strategies London.
The video production company that created and produced this video clip is Diginovations, winners of the Platinum VISTA Award for Best Corporate Video from the National Professional Videographers Association for three of the last four years.
Added a week ago, this video clip of my interview with Nick already had more than 780 views as of this morning. Okay, so that not even close to comedian Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance,” which has drawn 74 million views on YouTube. But, while I should disclose that SES London is a client, I have to confess that I only got around to promoting this video clip today.
How did it rack up so many views, then? Well, Jasdev Dhaliwal’s The Web Pitch gave it a plug even before I could get around to publicizing the video clip myself. That’s what I love about social media.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:33 AM | Permalink
January 9, 2008
Pew survey finds increased use of video-sharing sitesThe Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a new report which has found that 48% of Internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year.
The findings of Pew's national phone survey in December show: -- 48% of internet users say they have visited a video-sharing site such as YouTube. A year earlier, in December 2006, 33% of Internet users said they had visited such sites. This represents growth of more than 45% year-to-year. -- 15% of respondents say they used a video-sharing site "yesterday" -- the day before they were contacted for the survey. A year ago, 8% had visited such a site "yesterday." Thus, on an average day, the number of users of video sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007.
If you go to YouTube, the featured videos are "The Phone Call" or "The Pickup." But, "how to" videos are a growing category, too.
If you conduct a search on the site, you'll find 254 videos for "pay per click advertising," 873 videos for "search engine optimization" or 11,100 videos for "search engine marketing." Check back a year from now to see how those numbers have growth.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:55 PM | Permalink
December 20, 2007
Free Google Flip Video Camcorder --No purchase necessaryOK, strike "no purchase necessary." Free Flip video camcorder: "big purchase necessary?"
Google gave big-time advertisers and SEMs (whose clients spend big) a Flip Video Ultra Series camcorder with recording time up to 30 min. and 1GB internal memory.
Search marketer Shimon Sandler recorded an Oscar-worthy short film (YouTubed) of his Google Video Ultra gift being unwrapped. You'll watch the film again and again, if only to get into the Xmas spirit of green envy that children of all ages feel during the Holiday Season.
Google Flip flopped with all the SEMs who only received Google 2GB USB memory cards instead of the Google Flip (with MSRP of $149.99!). The 2GoogleByte USB card was described by our friends at SERoundtable as more or less a lump of coal -- way inferior to last year's Google gift gadget: a sweet digital picture frame.
It would seem only the FTC approves of Google acquisitions these days.
Here at Search Engine Watch, we'll be providing the P.O. Box for Google Customer Returns and the address of the secret Google Gift Exchange location.
Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:46 PM | Permalink
December 10, 2007
Online TV forecast sees huge growth aheadSteve Clarke of Variety reports on new research by Informa Telecoms and MediaSome that forecasts 38.4 million homes worldwide will receive TV via the Internet by 2012. In the shorter term, Informa is forecasting 10.6 million online TV households by the end of 2007, double the 2006 figure.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:30 PM | Permalink
December 5, 2007
Who Holds the Keys to Video-Related Ads?Nielsen will release a service enabling broadcasters and cable networks to control and make money from their online video distribution (per today’s WSJ, subscription only). Through fingerprinting technology, the video may be blocked, permitted to load, or "perhaps load only if it is attached to a particular piece of advertising.”
This announcement makes me wonder who holds the keys to video-related ads. With Nielsen acting as a neutral party, I would like to believe the largest rights holders keep control of their ad sales and sources.
However, we can't predict new moves from social networks, such as YouTube. What if the network itself starts to block copyrighted clips, but you want to show your clips and ads? What if the network begins showing ads that somehow interrupt yours? What if you prefer to use the network's ad inventory after all?
Regardless of these unknowns, the Nielsen announcement is interesting news. We'll see who gets real traction in this "video cop" marketplace, and how they charge for or otherwise monetize their services.
Posted by Deborah Richman at 2:39 AM | Permalink
October 11, 2007
Expect More Finger Pointing on Copyright Protection for VideoIn an News Corp stated that Google ’could do a better job’ at preventing illegally copied video from appearing on its YouTube site.” Chermin also stated that there is no reason Google could not track and filter copyrighted material as well as MySpace, which is owned by News Corp and overseen by Chermin. Was this just finger-pointing and corporate sparring? What about Viacom’s billion dollar lawsuit lodged against Google in March over copyright infringement, and all those other pesky lawsuits?
Let me put on my foil hat for just a moment. I can feel some serious vibes coming in. This finger pointing and posturing about who does copyright protection better is going to continue and get even more intense as the promise of advertising on video becomes a revenue-gushing reality.
Tuesday, Google announced the launch of AdSense for Video program which will let publishers embed YouTube videos on their websites using a customized player and then make money from overlaying text ads that fade in and out as the videos play. Watch those dollars winging through the broadband.
Then, Wednesday, following close behind, comes the announcement by video search engine blinkx of a new service that they are offering which allows people to make money when they embed video clips on their Web sites. The Blinkx program, entitled AdHoc, is particularly interesting in that it allows users to monetize, through revenue sharing, video garnered from a number of video-sharing sites including YouTube, GoogleVideo and DailyMotion. The video ad space is clearly booming with the options for advertisers and publishers ballooning. The ground trembles as another revenue gusher is about to blow and start pumping even more revenues toward some well known search engines.
Now, why the foil hat vibes? Isn’t this ‘my copyright detection beats your copyright detection’ just more of ‘my algo is better than your algo’ that we’ve known for years. Not quite. In an article entitled “The Cost of Copyright” Danny Bradbury discusses copyright detection technology, why the various parties do not seem willing to develop and adopt a single detection methodology which would yield a recognizable digital fingerprint for copyright materials. He points out that it’s about the advertising benjamins that await the advertising network that can provide pinpoint targeting based on viewing patterns. Fingerprinting on video has the promise of delivering lots of potential revenue-producing information on viewing patterns.This information will become ever more valuable as advertisers seek to hone in on their prospects. Even without a foil hat, it's easy to see that the finger pointing over who has the better copyright detection capabilities will continue. It is not just my detection routines beat your detection routines, but rather I can target prospects better. In fact the it is now no longer just about the copyright material; it is all about advertising revenues.
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 6:34 AM | Permalink
Blinkx Showing Google How To Monetize YouTubeAndy Greenberg over at Forbes has written an interesting article about how Blinkx - the European based video platform - has rolled out a monetization process that could help Google with making money on YouTube.
Blinkx launched a method for providing contextual ads that go along with the video content embedded on a site.
"Blinkx released a tool Wednesday that lets online publishers place targeted text ads in any video embedded on a Web site based on the actual content of the video. That's a big contrast to Google's approach: Google figures out what ads to pair with a video based strictly on the video's title and any keywords attached to the clip. Blinkx software "listens to" and "watches" the video, then inserts text overlay ads based on the spoken words and to some extent, the images in the clip. That technology depends on algorithms developed by a longtime Google competitor, search engine Autonomy," Forbes reported.
It is definitely an article worth reading.
Posted by Frank Watson at 12:11 AM | Permalink
October 9, 2007
Google AdSense for VideoGoogle has announced a new initiative designed to help them monetize YouTube content. The new program is called Video Units, and it allows publishers to incorporate YouTube videos onto their site, while monetizing them through the AdSense program. The AdSense ads display in the video player both above and below the video.
The publisher is able to configure the basic look and feel of the player through a selection of colors and player size. The publisher can also exercise control over the nature of the videos shown. The choices they can make are:
- Automatic - let Google/YouTube figure out what content to show on your site
- Automatic with keyword hints - Still decided by Google and YouTube, but you get to give the algorithm some hints
- Choose categories - You can steer the process further by selecting the specific categories you want your video content to come from
- Choose specific providers - You can also choose the providers you want to get your content from
Once the publisher has made their configuration choices, they can click a button to generate code for the player to put on their web site. One of the key steps is to provide Google with your AdSense ID and your YouTube ID (you need both).
The program is being pitched primarily as a method of incorporating content into your site. The idea is that the embedded videos will provide increased stickiness for your site traffic. Of course, it's also nice that you can monetize the video right on the spot as well.
You can read more about the program on the AdSense Blog. The video in the blog post provides a great overview of the program.
Posted by Eric Enge at 11:14 AM | Permalink
July 30, 2007
Google Adding Copyright Filters To YouTubeFriday during a copyright-infringement lawsuit hearing involving Viacom and Google, a Google attorney told the judge the company was working "very intensely" on a video recognition technology, the AP reported. The technology, that could be used to filter for copyright infringements, could be added to YouTube as early as September, it was reported.
Viacom sued Google in March in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement from YouTube and seeking $1 billion in damages.
Using the recognition programming, copyright owners can provide a digital fingerprint that within a minute or two will trigger a block from YouTube whenever someone tries to upload a copyright video without permission, the AP reported.
"We hope to have the testing completed and technology available by some time in the fall, but this is one of the most technologically complicated tasks that we have ever undertaken, and as always with cutting-edge technologies, it's difficult to forecast specific launch dates," a YouTube spokesperson told IDG News.
Posted by Frank Watson at 12:40 PM | Permalink
July 6, 2007
LG, Google Developing YouTube PhoneMobile phone manufacturer LG is working with Google to develop a mobile phone that will allow you to upload videos directly to YouTube, according to an Adotas.
The phones should be available by the end of the year, the report stated.
"The technology will give users the ability to shoot, view and upload videos onto YouTube from their phones just as they would on their PCs. Also, videos on the site will be easily viewable," Adotas reported.
LG Electronics CEO Skott Ahn said the phones should be available globally by the end of the year.
This new content will provide more advertising space for Google and continues the relationship they have with LG that has a number of Google aps installed on some of their mobile phones.
Posted by Frank Watson at 12:09 PM | Permalink
June 19, 2007
YouTube Adds 9 Localized Country SitesGoogle announced today that YouTube has added nine country-specific sites. The localized sites are fully translated, with localized home pages, content and search functions. This first phase of an international rollout includes sites for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK, with plans for more countries to be included in the near future.
On the YouTube blog, YouTube International Manager Sakina Arsiwala writes: Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. As part of this first step in our international rollout, you can now enjoy fully translated sites, with localized home pages, content and search functions.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:16 PM | Permalink
June 14, 2007
Google Video Expands Focus on SearchGoogle Video had been comprised of videos that were submitted by users, or uploaded by content providers for purchase. It appears that Google has revamped its idea of what Google Video should be, and that is a Web-wide video search engine.
Back in January, Google began integrating YouTube videos into Google Video results, and said at the time that the strategy for Google Video and YouTube would be to continue to play to their respective strengths. They plan to continue pushing YouTube as an entertainment destination and community site, and Google Video as a search tool. Ultimately, most user-generated and premium video will be hosted on YouTube, with Google focusing on video search, monetization and distribution.
That plan has moved forward this week, according to Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker:
Now we've made even more progress towards realizing that vision. On Google Video, users will now be able to watch videos from various websites via a web crawl. For those videos which were not uploaded to YouTube or Google, users will be able to see a thumbnail image of that video and then have the ability to be redirected to where the video is hosted in order to watch it in its entirety.This week, Ionut Alex Chitu at Google Operating System has spotted some changes to Google Video, and Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped follows up with more details.
Lenssen writes: it looks like Google realized their strengths and finally turned Google Video into an actual web-wide video search engine: the latest update will not only incorporate results from different sources, like YouTube, Vimeo.com, CollegeHumor, eBaumsWorld, MetaCafe, Google Video itself, Yahoo Video or MySpace... it will also present those in a new frame wrapper, similar to what you’ll be used to at Google Images.
When Google launched its Universal Search results last month, it began showing thumbnail video results from third parties like Metacafe, as well as full inline video results from YouTube and Google Video.
In Google Video results now, users will see up to 15 thumbnails in a javascript slide-open window. This is part of the broader goal to innovate "video crawl," Stricker said, which lets users search for online video content irrespective of where it may be hosted.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:14 PM | Permalink
May 9, 2007
User-Generated Videos On Your Domain?Do you already produce or license video content for your site? Do you incorporate user-generated content and sharing tools now? Then encouraging your visitors to share video content on your domain seems like a natural progression.
Yet today we all equate video sharing with the portals. Sites like YouTube, Metacafe, Revver and Break have achieved critical mass, with YouTube far in the lead. They attract professional and amateur video contributors, who all host freely on these sites. Viewers know they will be able to search within these communities and find something that intrigues or amuses them.
While these video portals are doing well today, their predominance may not last forever.
A few days ago, YouTube announced that it would start paying some of its amateur contributors who brought in high traffic. While other sites had paid for non-professionals before, the market leader joined the fold too. (See earlier SEW posting.)
We’re not cheerleading for particular services, but there are some low-end options for publishers. vSocial released a free service last year. CEO Mark Sigal says that nearly 600 users have created mini-YouTubes through his service so far. Vidiac provides another free option for small sites. Further up the food chain are services like VideoEgg, which powers some selected social networks.
It’s worth trying to create more social engagement and loyalty on your site. At some point, the tide will turn.
Posted by Deborah Richman at 1:30 AM | Permalink
May 4, 2007
YouTube to Pay Top UsersGoogle's YouTube will begin paying top users for the video content they submit under a new revenue sharing partner program that will let the creators share in AdSense revenue generated by their videos.
“A select group of content creators will get promotion on the YouTube platform, and we will help them monetize their content,” Jamie Byrne, VP of marketing at YouTube, told Om Malik on Thursday. “This will help erase the stigma around the user-created content, and, to be honest, these guys are media entities in their own right.”
In a post on the YouTube Blog, the company said it is extending its partner program, previously only available to big media companies like CBS, Sony BMG and UMG and the NBA, to include "thousands of mid-sized to large content creators who range from video game companies to universities to production houses."
"Up until now there’s been a distinction between the content you create and the content created by YouTube's professional content partners. We want to start changing some of the perception here. Which is why we’re adding several of the most popular and prolific original content creators from the YouTube community to our partnership program."
Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:17 AM | Permalink
May 3, 2007
YouTube Set To Test Marketability of SciFi FilmYouTube is launching a new animated science fiction show. The interesting part of this event is that YouTube is using the show, Afterworld, to test their marketing abilities.
"And with ambitions of tapping the Internet video advertising market, the producers of Afterworld will also provide Google-owned YouTube with its first real chance to demonstrate its revenue generating potential—just as the site gears up to roll out video commercials this summer' , Red Herring opined.
"There is plenty of doubt whether Internet viewers are ready for commercials, but that hasn’t stopped producers at Electric Farm, the Internet production house behind Afterworld. They are pouring millions of dollars into the show in hopes of creating a compelling web serial that will attract the Internet digerati and advertisers," Red Herring reported.
Posted by Frank Watson at 2:04 PM | Permalink
April 17, 2007
Will Filtering Solve YouTube Copyright Problems?Eric Schmidt in an interview with John Seigenthaler, a former reporter with NBC's Nightly News, at National Association of Broadcasters conference noted that Google is close implementing a filtering service that would prevent copyright content from being uploaded to YouTube. According to Schmidt, the new system called Claim Your Content, will automatically flag copyright material so that it can be removed. The system was supposed to have launched last year. Google is surely feeling a certain urgency in getting effective filtering in place given the $1 billion lawsuit against filed by Viacom against Google last month that accused Google of wholesale intentional copyright infringement. It remains to be seen if this new system does in fact weed out copyright materials.
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 10:43 AM | Permalink
March 29, 2007
YouTube Adds New Functionality for CategoriesAndy Plesser at Beet.TV reports that You Tube last night introduced new functionality that will let users to organize clips around designated categories. For those managing a large number of clips this will be a welcome addition. Previously, clips whether uploaded to a channel or to a regular account, simply went up in a semi-random order -- usually chronological. Users could organize their clips into playlists, but there was no way to group clips more completely. This change, which I've not yet tested out, will let the user decide how to organize their clips and will improve the user experience. Andy notes that this will make YouTube more Flickr-like.
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 9:19 AM | Permalink
March 27, 2007
The YouTube Video Contest – And the Winners Are . . .The votes are in and counted for the first ever YouTube Video contest. The contest was designed to honor the best user-generated video of 2006.
The winners are:
Most Creative - OK Go: This music video with a scary treadmill theme also won a Grammy for "Best Short-Form Music Video” and has been viewed by 13 million people.
Most Inspirational - Free Hugs: A heart-warming video showing how folks respond to a free hug.
Best Series – Ask a Ninja: Created by L.A. comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, this series of ninja answering questions would make Ann Landers or other advice columnists queasy.
Best Comedy – Smosh: The creators Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, aka Smosh, have the number two most-subscribed channel on YouTube.
Best Music – Terranaomi: Terra Naomi, a YouTube success story now with a major record label, began vlogging and broadcasting live acoustic performances from her LA apartment in February 2006. She is the third most subscribed-to musician on YouTube.
Best Commentary – The Winekone: A half-naked man rants.
Most Adorable Video – Kiwi!: This film, Dony Permedi's master's thesis in animation with music Tim Cassell, is about the aspirations of a kiwi bird. Kiwi is the number one most watched Film and Animation video on YouTube with more than six million views.
If you are a fan of consumer-generated video, I recommend giving these winning videos a watch .
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 10:15 AM | Permalink
March 19, 2007
YouTube Announces 2007 YouTube Video AwardsAccording to an announcement made today, now is your chance to vote for 2007 YouTube Video Awards. These awards will honor the best user-created videos of 2006. The voting period begins on Monday, March 19 and ends on Friday, March 23 and is open to the YouTube community. To vote, community members will simply browse the award categories and place the nominees in their preferred rank order from their favorite to least favorite. The nominees have been selected from the site's most popular original videos and for ease in voting have are centralized in a gallery of separate lists, one for each award category. YouTube will announce the winners on YouTube on Monday, March 26. YouTube has indicated that the winners from each category will be prominently featured on the side and will receive a trophy.
Note: When I just went to browse the categories, I received a notice that the channel was not available. I’ll keep an eye on this.
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 8:36 AM | Permalink
March 13, 2007
Viacom Sues YouTube, Google for $1 BillionIt had to happen sooner or later. Someone is suing Google via YouTube for $1 billion for massive copyright infringement.
Viacom filed a suit against them in New York court today, asking not only for the money but an immediate stop to the copyright infringement. The legal complaint claims over 160,000 Viacom clips are on YouTube and have had over 1.5 billion views.
Viacom issued the following press release after filing the papers.
"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws. In fact, YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden - and high cost - of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement.
This behavior stands in stark contrast to the actions of other significant distributors, who have recognized the fair value of entertainment content and have concluded agreements to make content legally available to their customers around the world.
There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. This is value that rightfully belongs to the writers, directors and talent who create it and companies like Viacom that have invested to make possible this innovation and creativity.
After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused."
Posted by Frank Watson at 10:31 AM | Permalink
March 2, 2007
Test of YouTube AdSense Unit Reveals ClickthroughsYou may have noticed Google is testing a new ad format, which features YouTube videos inside an AdSense unit, as noted by Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff earlier this week.
According to technology analyst Amit Agarwal, the units reveal clickthroughs for the ads via a bug in YouTube's "links" feature. Agarwal notes that the feature, which is intended to show how many sites are linking to a YouTube-hosted video clip, and the number of clicks coming from those sites. An unexpected side-effect of that feature exposes the number of clickthroughs the ad receives, by listing the site that hosts the ad unit in the links list, and showing the number of clicks send to the video.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:02 AM | Permalink
February 28, 2007
Jump On The Video Distribution BandwagonRight now, web publishers of all stripes are busy developing video to entertain or inform visitors. The best video content engages your visitors and encourages them to spend additional time on your site.
In the rush to develop your site, you may not have focused on other traffic opportunities for your professionally-produced video. That rich video content can provide additional revenue streams outside your own domain.
In the old world order, this is called syndication. As an intellectual property holder, you sign contracts which grant licensing rights to others. In return, these licensees pay you based on where the video is shown, audience levels, specific channels, number of plays, and time periods.
In the age of YouTube, your audience is getting used to finding videos there and across the web. Thus it makes sense to solicit help from your site visitors. Encourage them to embed your videos on their own sites, blogs and pages. With ad pre-rolls and sponsorships attached to your own videos, you’ll earn incremental revenue from this extended audience.
Fortunately the barriers to hosting video have fallen lately. Since you already host video on your own site, consider extending that support when it's embedded on other sites. Check out StreamingMedia.com, one of the better resources for tips and contacts.
Why go through this effort? Dan Rayburn presents a wake-up call in Broadcasting & Cable, telling publishers they should not “risk their videos' being marketed by other media outlets like bloggers and those who can drive traffic and awareness.” Publishers are advised to control their content distribution, so they can easily adjust their advertising as well.
External distribution isn’t reserved for the biggest publishers anymore. It’s true that some entertainment companies have been reacting to YouTube in recent weeks and going it alone. However this is an important matter for all video producers who want to maximize traffic and revenue opportunities – wherever their video appears.
Posted by Deborah Richman at 12:58 AM | Permalink
February 2, 2007
MTV Networks Demands YouTube & Google Remove Unauthorized VideosA Viacom spokesperson called me a few minutes ago, breaking this news, and sending along an official statement. Today, MTVNetworks and its parent company Viacom, are issuing an ultimatium to Google/YouTube: remove unauthorized content or else...
MTVNetworks/Viacom says that over 100,000 unauthorized clips of its video content – representing 1.2 billion video streams - appearing within Google and YouTube, must be removed immediately from its site.
The recent talk of adding short video ads ahead of content on YouTube may have been the last straw for MTV and Viacom, who clearly did not want Google to profit from showing unauthorized clips.
After months of ongoing discussions with YouTube and Google, it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users. Filtering tools promised repeatedly by YouTube and Google have not been put in place, and they continue to host and stream vast amounts of unauthorized video. YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it. The recent addition of YouTube-served content to Google Video Search simply compounds this issue. Virtually every other distributor has acknowledged the fair value of entertainment content and has taken deliberate steps to concluding agreements with content providers.We have great respect for and loyalty to our audiences. We host more than 130 authorized web sites where millions of fans visit and interact with our content. Our internet portfolio has more visitors than any other entertainment company and we are always seeking distribution relationships to ensure that any of our products and services are easily accessible on every platform.
Our hope is that YouTube and Google will support a fair and authorized distribution model that allows consumers to continue to enjoy our very popular content now and in the future.
Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
MTV/YouTube Spat Growing for Months?Viacom's decision to issue a takedown notice to Google demanding the removal of all of its protected content from YouTube is not really a surprising move. Just this summer, Viacom teamed up with Google to promote its MTV Networks content on Google Video, in part to counteract the widespread use of its content on Youtube. MTV was the content provider in a test that wrapped video ads around its content on AdSense sites.
Even before Google bought YouTube, there were rumblings of secret deals with content owners to create rev-share deals to avoid this kind of legal action. Apparently Viacom was not one of the providers that reached an acceptable agreement.
Viacom was allegedly in talks late last year with Fox and NBC Universal to create a YouTube rival, but dropped out of those talks in December.
This legal action is also happening -- perhaps not coincidentally -- at the same time that Google is discussing ad options on YouTube. Another factor may be that Viacom is itself developing an ad-supported, user-generated video platform with ViTrue, talentload.tv.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:29 AM | Permalink
January 29, 2007
YouTube Video Creators to Share Ad RevenuesJohn Battelle reports that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley has confirmed for the BBC after a session on social networking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that YouTube expects to roll out an ad model that includes revenue-sharing for video creators who upload their content to YouTube.
The advertising may include short clips inserted ahead of the video content. The revenue sharing offer will only be applicable to video content where the copyright is fully owned by the individual uploading the content. YouTube is still working out details of how the technology and the revenue-sharing model will work. Rollout is expected over the next couple of months. A similar revenue sharing advertising model is already available with Revver without the reach or popularity of YouTube. Similar to the advertising program proposed for YouTube, Revver only provides revenues to copyright owners and will not reward infringers.
Posted by Amanda Watlington at 8:14 AM | Permalink
January 26, 2007
Google, YouTube and Wikipedia are among top global brandsAccording to an annual survey by online magazine brandchannel.com, Google, Apple, YouTube, Wikipedia, Starbucks and Nokia are the top six global brands. YouTube was launched in 2005, Wikipedia was launched in 2001, and Google was launched in 1998. (Way back in the last century.)
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:13 PM | Permalink
January 14, 2007
Video From The ProfessionalsEveryone will be hawking their video wares at the NATPE conference this week. Some 8,000 attendees are expected in Las Vegas. Producers and programmers with original video will be on hand. While TV and cable executives will be licensing video as usual, they will be looking to distribute their existing assets online too. We wonder if the online wheeling and dealing will get even more attention than TV deals.
Ad Age reports on the growing broadband scene: "Gary Gannaway, president-CEO of local TV syndicator WorldNow and 20-year NATPE veteran, said consumers have proven their appetite to watch their favorite programming on any available platform." Both Brightcove and Revver will be there, getting deals with as many players as possible. They provide technology and syndication opportunities, and feel they are strong competitive threats to Google-YouTube. Where are the engines? MSN, Yahoo, Google and AOL will be there and wearing their content and distribution hats. Long Tail author Chris Anderson will present a keynote address, which is the closest NATPE comes to search training this year.
Posted by Deborah Richman at 7:23 PM | Permalink
January 8, 2007
Online video usage increasing as TV viewing declinesSafa Rashtchy, Managing Director and Senior Internet Analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co., has just reported the results of their latest survey of online users, which suggests that video usage is rapidly increasing, while TV viewing is declining. Google's YouTube is the top destination for video, ahead of TV Networks, with Google Video itself in the third place.
Rashtchy says this "suggests the mainstreaming of video usage is going beyond just amateur videos." He adds, "While YouTube became popular because of its variety of user-generated videos, we believe YouTube has now established a solid position as the main destination for video consumption overall. Further, with a proper strategy, YouTube could secure the top market share as video consumption expands."
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:48 AM | Permalink
News at Seven has an avatar for its news anchorKate Goodloe of The Wall Street Journal Online reports that an online show, called "News at Seven," is using "an automated computer program to comb online news outlets for major stories of the day and to pair them with video and still photos culled from sites like Google Images and YouTube. The newscast is delivered by an avatar."
Still in beta, News at Seven is a project of two computer-science graduate students and a professor at Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory, and was funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:26 AM | Permalink
January 5, 2007
What about Targeting Video Ads?According to MediaWeek, “Analysts and agency executives envision a new ad system that would use sophisticated targeting techniques to create ad messages users will want to watch.”
Someday tagging will connect video ads to video content. That's viable in the new world of YouTube and Google. Advertisers could buy video ads based on keywords. Then their ads play before or after videos tagged with those same keywords.
Brian Morrissey suggests an AdWords type system which "could choose from a vast pool of video spots for one relevant to the viewer."
For this to work, all publishers showing videos have to take a more active role in tagging as well.
Posted by Deborah Richman at 4:56 PM | Permalink
December 14, 2006
YouTube shares secret of its home page picksThe clips featured on YouTube's home page are not paid placements, insists Jennifer Nielsen, the video-sharing site's marketing exec. "Our editorial team scours the site for the most entertaining, novel and unique content," she tells Mark Glaser of NPR." Some users have accused CBS of buying its way into YouTube's "Most Viewed" pages.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:25 PM | Permalink
December 12, 2006
YouTube featured in Coke campaignBrian Morrissey of AdWeek reports that Coca-Cola has launched a YouTube promotion that taps several of the most popular video bloggers. This includes LisaNova, Geriatric1927 and Renetto.
Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:57 AM | Permalink
November 15, 2006
Google Holding $200 Million In Escrow For Possible YouTube Copyright CasesFirst Google was rumored to be keeping $500 million back from the YouTube sale to settle possible legal problems. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt said they weren't. Today, turns out they are. Google holds back stock in YouTube deal from the Associated Press covers the details about keeping 12.5 percent of the stock swap for one year "to secure certain indemnification obligations." What Eric Schmidt Meant When He Said Google Wasn't Holding $500 Million From YouTube For Lawsuits: We're Holding $200 Million from TechDirt does a summary, plus gives you a funny headline about the entire thing.
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:12 AM | Permalink
November 14, 2006
Google Officially Buys YouTubeYesterday, Google announced that they have officially closed the deal on YouTube, acquiring them for "3,217,560 shares, and restricted stock units, options and a warrant exercisable for or convertible into an aggregate of 442,210 shares, of Google's Class A common stock." For more details, please check out the press release.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:21 AM | Permalink
November 10, 2006
Battelle "Grilled" Schmidt On Google Video, Google Docs & MorePC Magazine has an excellent write up on John Battelle's interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google at the Web 2.0 conference named Google's Schmidt Grilled At Conference . John Battelle (which PC Mag spelled wrong), sat with Eric Schmidt for 30 minutes and asked him tough questions on YouTube, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and more. For example, Battelle asked, "So why did you buy YouTube? Was Google Video not doing well?" Battelle then noted that Google Docs and Spreadsheets were a Microsoft Office replacement, in which Schmidt replied, "We don't see it as a replacement of Office. The focus we have is not the focus they have." Battelle's response to that is the focus is that it is free. I wonder what the audience reaction was to this interview?
Postscript: Danny has coverage on the Web 2.0 conference from earlier this week here.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:23 AM | Permalink
November 9, 2006
Microsoft, Ask & Fox On Google At Web 2.0Photo from kennejima at Flickr
Yesterday, Ask and Microsoft talked about taking on Google at the Web 2.0 Summit. But honestly, the highlight for me was the image of Microsoft's Steve Berkowitz sitting next to Ask's Jim Lanzone. Lanzone use to work for Steve, then took over his spot running Ask when Steve left. Both remain good friends, and it was cool to see them up on that panel side by side.
ZDNet covered what they said, plus they have an even better side-by-side photo. Jim's push in taking on Google is that its vulnerability is being distracted by projects other than search. He also puts out this new line I haven't heard used before: "Google is the model T of search. Over time peoples' needs evolve." But I heard you can have search in any color you want, as long as it's black!
Steve talked about consumer experience, the idea that search within IM might be presented differently than within a community site. Plus, he talked about Google's weakness in terms of cultural issues, such as still learning how to act as a public company.
Greg Linden also has a short write-up of the talk, looking at the question about personalized search. Steve wanted to give users complete control of their data. Jim was more pessimistic on personalized search, seemingly in terms of users actually helping with it, since more are "lazy" and don't want to customize things, which is pretty true.
Greg points over at InternetNews, which has another write-up of the talk -- this time with Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie saying in the fight against Google, there is "immense opportunity in the core space" that he's "surprised" Microsoft hasn't branched into. I take core space to mean search.
At PaidContent.org, Ross Levinsohn of Fox Interactive is noted to have said it was "genuine" of Google CEO Eric Schmidt to have visited so quickly after Google snapped YouTube away from a possible purchase by Fox. Plus, he offers soothing words that YouTube would have been "fun" to own but Fox couldn't do it at that price.
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:50 AM | Permalink
Google Video Sued, Plus More Info From New SEC FilingThe Associate Press reports that Google Video was actually sued for copyright infringement but yet, Google did not reveal who actually sued them. The lawsuit was disclosed by Google via a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (link via Gary, but we do not know much more. PaidContent reports (site currently down), that Google may loan YouTube money prior to closing the deal with them, in order to help them settle or battle certain lawsuits.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:02 AM | Permalink
November 8, 2006
Eric Schmidt At Web 2.0 On YouTube & Other IssuesJohn Battelle spoke with Eric Schmidt at Web 2.0 yesterday. What have we got? YouTube's growth made it a necessary purchase. No, money's not set aside to cover YouTube legal claims. Yes, you can have your date if you want it, users. No, Google's not trying to take out Microsoft Office. Plus some more below.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt: We would never trap user data from ZDNet has coverage that has Schmidt saying:
- Google bought YouTube because it was growing faster than Google Video, and video was a "fundamental data type" to Google.
- Google's still figuring out ways to compensate content owners with video, a complex area.
- Google would support exporting personal data (search history, email, etc) to other providers, if it can be authenticated.
- Google's office products are "casual" and not aimed at Microsoft.
Google CEO denies rumor of YouTube legal reserve from Reuters quotes Schmidt as saying "not true" to a rumor that $500 million of the YouTube sales prices was set aside for legal claims.
@ Web 2.0: Day One Highlights: Ad 2.0; Google CEO; Skype Content from PaidContent covers Schmidt but also touches on IAC's Barry Diller saying in a separate interview that he doesn't expect Google will become a media monopoly or dominant player.
Web 2.0 Con: Liveblogging the "Conversation with Eric Schmidt" from Valleywag has a nice minute-by-minute rundown of the interview, for those that want more -- and covers that if Schmidt or one of the cofounders Larry Page or Sergey Brin don't agree on something, the cofounder wins. "I'm the one with the experience who's late. Left to their own devices they'd be early and right, but too early."
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 5:34 AM | Permalink
November 7, 2006
YouTube, TIME's Best Invention Of 2006If you missed it, TIME released their best inventions of 2006 and the best invention at the top of the list was YouTube. Why did it win?
YouTube is ultimately more interesting as a community and a culture, however, than as a cash cow. It's the fulfillment of the promise that Web 1.0 made 15 years ago. The way blogs made regular folks into journalists, YouTube makes them into celebrities. The real challenge old media face isn't protecting their precious copyrighted material. It's figuring out what to do when the rest of us make something better. As Hurley puts it, "How do you stay relevant when people can entertain themselves?" He and his partners may have started YouTube, but the rest of us, in our basements and bedrooms, with our broadband and our webcams, invented it.So now that Google is going to buy YouTube, they need to make sure this invention doesn't drown in legal battles.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:05 AM | Permalink
November 6, 2006
Google Wins Right To Buy YouTube In Antitrust ReviewThe Chicago Tribune reports that Google has won the right to buy YouTube after antitrust authorities reviewed the documents by the Federal Trade Commission. So now it is official, Google can go through with the acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:49 AM | Permalink
November 3, 2006
Google Working To Stop Lawsuits Over YouTubeThe Financial Times reports that Eric Schmidt's Google is running from media company to media company trying to offer upfront cash, in sums of "tens of millions of dollars," to slow and "halt" the threat they pose to YouTube. FT.com says that Schmidt met with CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, News Corp and others recently. There are some more details over at paidContent.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:27 AM | Permalink
October 31, 2006
More Details On YouTube & Google AcquisitionBlog Maverick has some intimate details on the Google YouTube Deal from a "trusted anonymous author" in a message board. Here are some of the excerpts:
The first request was a simple one and that was an agreement to look the other way for the next 6 months or so while copyright infringement continues to flourish. The second request was to pile some lawsuits on competitors to slow them down and lock in Youtube's position. Infringement lawsuits will be served on Youtube and the new proud parent Google in the coming months. Google will respond with two paths: an expensive legal fight or a quick and easy settlement with most choosing the latter.Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:26 AM | Permalink
October 20, 2006
YouTube Deletes 30,000 Japanese Media Files & Deals With Record LabelsReuters reports that YouTube erased 29,549 films and media files after receiving a complaint from "Japanese media companies over copyright infringement." Around the same time, the NY Times informs us that Music Companies Grab a Share of the YouTube Sale. The article says that the $50 million earned from this deal "should help to shield Google from copyright-infringement lawsuits." Universal Music last week sued two smaller video sharing sites but not YouTube, for distributing pirated music and videos. Techdirt feels that the last minute deal with the music companies before Google buying them was YouTube basically handing over to "the labels Google's cash before any official deal was completed."
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:18 AM | Permalink
October 13, 2006
Upload Videos To Google's PicasaPhilipp Lenssen reports that you can upload your videos to Google's Picasa web albums if you wanted to. Philipp links to this sample video of a kid doing chin ups. As an FYI, you can now upload videos to Google Video, YouTube (soon to be owned by Google) and now Google's Picasa. Options, options and more options -- too much?
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:58 AM | Permalink
Time Warner: YouTube Copyright Negotiations To Be "Kicked Up" To GoogleGoogle faces copyright fight over YouTube from The Guardian cover how chair and CEO of Time Warner Dick Parsons said his company plans to go after YouTube for copyright violations. It's still talk rather than legal actions:
Mr Parsons told the Guardian: "You can assume we're in negotiations with YouTube and that those negotiations will be kicked up to the Google level in the hope that we can get to some acceptable position."
I'm sure it will get kicked up. And it shouldn't be hard to get the right people connected given that the AOL part of Time Warner already has an existing distribution deal with Google. Of course, if that fails, it should be interesting to see if Time Warner sues a copy that has a five percent ownership stake in AOL. Related coverage and commentary can be found via Techmeme, here.
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:35 AM | Permalink
October 12, 2006
Ballmer: YouTube Overvalued & Google Transferring Wealth From Content OwnersThe Web According to Ballmer from BusinessWeek has Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer questioning the value of the Google-YouTube deal and oddly warning that Google is transferring wealth away from rights holders. It's an odd statement, since that's what Microsoft wants to do as well.
First the questioning of the YouTube value:
[You've got to ask] could Google do whatever it is they're hoping to buy without paying $1.6 billion? Is YouTube really some permanent, long-term thing, or is it a fashion?....Right now, there's no business model for YouTube that would justify $1.6 billion.
Though strangely, when BusinessWeek tries to pindown what seems a clear statement that Google overpaid, Ballmer says:
I'm not saying it is overvalued. I'm not trying to say that. It depends on a set of factors. I'm not saying I wouldn't write a check for that amount of money. I might.
And back to the controversial statement about Google's relations with content:
And what about the rights holders? At the end of the day, a lot of the content that's up there is owned by somebody else.
The truth is what Google is doing now is transferring the wealth out of the hands of rights holders into Google. So media companies around the world are all threatened by Google. Why? Because basically Google is telling you how much of your ad revenue you get to keep. They better get some competition. Us. Yahoo! (YHOO). Somebody better break through or you can short all media stocks right now. As long as there are two, you can hold onto media stocks. Google understands that. And that's one reason why they're willing to lose money up front.
Microsoft has its own video sharing service up, Soapbox. It has a question answering service, Q&A. It has an entire search engine that crawls the web like Google, Windows Live. Microsoft has plans for contextual placement of ads on pages, similar to AdSense. It's specific to MSN content now, but that will inevitably change. All of these things leverage the content of others in order to make money from Microsoft. So if these actions leverage wealth away from content owners, Microsoft is just as guilty of it as Google.
Frankly, all Ballmer seems to be saying is content owners would be better off if Microsoft was a strong third participant in ad game. Sure -- but let's not kid ourselves. Microsoft gets a lot better off by that as well, and it didn't jump into the game out of some desire to counter-balance the power of Google. It's in it to make as much money as it can, as well.
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:42 AM | Permalink
October 11, 2006
MySpace Threatens YouTube After Google's BuyoutA Wall Street Journal article shows how the folks over at News Corp., the owners of MySpace.com, have threatened to cut "off the MySpace links to YouTube" because YouTube didn't respond to News Corp's email request to have an "opportunity to participate in the sale process." Google with YouTube and News Corp. with MySpace are to meet this week in LA to "discuss new ways of working together." The Wall Street Journal explains that News Corp. is threatened by the acquisition of YouTube by Google, making YouTube a much more powerful competitor to the MySpace property.
Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:44 AM | Permalink
October 10, 2006
Recapping Coverage Of Google's Acquisition Of YouTubeI don't have a ton to say about the Google acquisition of YouTube. That's because to me, it's more an eyeball landgrab than a search development. There's no doubt people search for video on YouTube, and getting the leading property will help Google. But the searching isn't the deep dive video search involving transcripts linked to video clips or other technological advances you might think Google would want in a more in a true search deal. This, to me, is basically YouTube as a hot property that Google hasn't been able to replicate with its own Google Video.
In particular, Google sees online video ads as a big step forward in generating revenue (rather than organizing information). Getting YouTube makes much sense, in that regard. YouTube has the eyeballs watching video. Google wants to shove ads in front of those eyeballs.
Various people see sense in YouTube diving for the copyright cover that Google's somehow supposedly going to extend. I don't know what super copyright protection technology they're expecting Google to cook up. To date, Google has had plenty of copyright violations it struggles with.
Overall, the biggest takeaway for me is how the YouTube purchase is the end of an era of Google buying small. To date, most purchases have been tiny. But with loads of cash in its pockets, Google's jumped into the second round of billion dollar purchases of web sites that's been going on.
Some headlines from the ample coverage out there that particularly caught my eye.
- Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock - Press release covering the $1.65 billion all stock deal leaving YouTube to operate independently, with the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
- Google-YouTube WebCast - Follow the links on this page to watch the press conference from yesterday. Ironically, I can't find the conference having been posted to Google Video or YouTube. A Message From Chad and Steve is a video message about the sale from YouTube's cofounders.
- SeekingAlpha's Google Transcripts - Transcripts of Google's financial discussions often posted here. So far, one from the deal is not up. That might change, though perhaps not, since this wasn't an earnings call.
- Google to Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion - New York Times overview coverage, noting that Microsoft, Yahoo, Viacom and News Corporation were also interested. YouTube to stay mainly independent. YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley said his company wanted to stay independent and the sale makes it "still the case." We'll see.
- Google Looks To Boost Ads With YouTube - Wall Street Journal overview coverage, paid subscription required. Nice chart on some past Google acquisitions. Nice detail on YouTube rejecting an earlier lower offer from Google and Yahoo's 24 hour offer expiring, with Yahoo having concerns about copyright and revenue issues. Touches on the deal threatening to create a rift between Google and News Corp, which owns MySpace, the biggest property in the ad deal Google and News Corp signed in August.
- Google to buy YouTube in its biggest deal yet - Reuters overview coverage.
- Google snaps up YouTube for $1.65B - Associated Press overview coverage.
- Google acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion - Niall Kennedy points out how the purchase price is similar to eBay's huge acquisition price of PayPal.
- What Google's YouTube deal means for Microsoft - Seattle Press Intelligencer looks at Microsoft thinking Google paid too much.
- I still think Google is crazy :) - Mark Cuban figures one copyright lawsuit will put Google out of business. Perhaps. Then again, we heard that about click fraud. What happened? Google paid an incredibly tiny amount to wipe out click fraud exposure in the US and continues to rake in the profits. Google does have digital rights management on video it sells, unlike what he says. And since YouTube apparently has one copyright case against it already, Google's already getting into that hot water now. Time will tell how it plays out.
- YouTube, your copyright and Google - News.com has a nice look at copyright issues with YouTube, such as takedown notices and automatic detection.
- Google YouTube Conference Call - Search Engine Journal with conference call coverage.
- Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion - Silicon Valley Watcher with conference call coverage.
- First Blush on GooTube - Conference Call - John Battelle with some conference call coverage. I'm with him on the point that Blogger was an out-of-brand purchase for Google, as was Deja before that -- but neither approached this scale or degree of autidence.
- Google/YouTube Conference Call - InsideGoogle with conference call coverage.
- GOOG-YouTube: Conference Call: No Name Change; Audio - PaidContent on conference call coverage.
- Google Purchases YouTube for $1.65B - Google Watch, with this quote from the conference call from Sergey Brin: "We spend a lot of time working on our two core areas of search and advertising," said Brin. "And when you think about search, when you want an explanation about something, what better way than to actually see it in video?" Also notes Google Video's not going away.
- Google Acquires YouTube, Becomes the Archetypal Media Company - The story's pretty short, but I liked this headline and Publishing 2.0. Yes, spare us the argument Google's not a media company. YouTube is simply another way Google will effectively own lots and lots of media to show ads.
- One way to look at it - Very short post by Blogger founder Evan Williams, and right on target: "It's a great example of how and why a focused startup can compete with the big guys. Google not only had a video product that was a competitor, they started it before YouTube existed. Then YouTube came along an kicked their butt into paying through the nose for them." Googlers are surprised from him also notes three Googlers expressing disbelief or amazement.
- Deal creates new Valley stars - San Jose Mercury News with good backstory on the birth of YouTube.
Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:08 AM | Permalink