We all keep reading about how YouTube is not a "real" business. How They are simply another Napster or Kazza. How in the end the big media companies will crush them all together.
Is this really what is going to happen?
Hell no!
I believe that YouTube has amazing business. I think that one of the big boys still didn't buy them is not because of the piracy talks, but because of their huge price tag, and the fact that they are still far from making profit.
But that doesn't mean that it's not going to happen... With more than 100 million downloaded videos per day, their financial potential is simply huge. From showing small video ads to branding schemes, their user base is simply too big to ignore. Instead of waiting for TV to go into YouTube, they could even decide to take YouTube into TV.
And yes. I don't forget the piracy issues. I got to say that I simply don't get the studios and TV networks. Let's look at the "problem". The TV networks potentially has two problems with YouTube:
- The fact that users are uploading complete episodes of TV series.
- The fact that users are uploading highlights from TV series episodes.
Let's tackle those problems, one at a time:
Uploading of full episodes - This is easy. All YouTube needs to do is to put a limit of 8 - 10 min on files. Yes, some users will simply cut the episode to a few short files. But that means the end user who want to watch the episode will need to find and watch a few files.
In today world, where some of the networks are already broadcasting the TV series for free on their own sites, and finding the same episode and download it from P2P networks is so easy, do you really think a large number of people will actually go through the trouble of watching it in low resolution, cut to pieces on YouTube??
And what about users who upload the highlights of TV series? Are you kidding me? Instead of fighting YouTube, the networks needs to embrace it. The more the merrier. It's the best, free advertising they could wish for.
I bet that after each time SNL highlight is getting much attraction on YouTube, the following episode get higher rating on TV.
Again, People still want to watch media on their big screen TV in the comfort of the living room. Giving them cool parts in YouTube is like showing them movie teasers. It makes your brand famous. It makes people want to watch the full episode next time its on the air.
For now it seems that most of the networks and film studios are looking at YouTube as the new evil, but I bet that it won't take long for them to realize it could also be their best buddy. It took the music industry a few years to understand that they need to embrace the Internet, it will take less time to embrace YouTube.
