I hate to say I told you so, so I won’t.
But I will say this, when we wrote that times would not be as lavish for video file sharing sites in the wake of the Youtube/Google deal, we turned out to be right.
Guba, a pioneer in the space said adios to its visionary CEO earlier this month, which is a shame cause the bloke saw the light way back in 1997. There was no real doubt as to why, though it was not stated at the time.
This, of course, came one week after Revver hit the wall and two of Revver’s co-founders heading for the exit signs while the CEO was on vacation (WTF?): we covered this as well and explained why the going would get tougher here.
Today, we read on PaidContent that News.com confirmed what we’ve been saying all along:
“I think [Guba] can acknowledge that YouTube has won the big prize,” [Guba’s former CEO] McInerney said. “Guba is at a crossroads and we’re deciding whether to look for funding or to sell. I think we’re inclined to sell.” McInerney said that members of his executive team are considering whether to step down. The reason, McInerney said, is that Guba stands little chance of striking an acquisition deal as lucrative as YouTube’s.
You know, people laugh at me for wanting to produce video content, because “enabling others to steal and upload content is so the way to go,” said the wisemen to me.
Now many of those wisemen shall find themselves with no pants on when they realize that there’s not much value in being the #2, #3, #5 etc. file sharing platform when most of the content on them is not legit or of low quality and the content holders stand to generate revenue while the file sharing platforms can’t really (many will, but will it be to overcome the massive hosting and bandwidth fees?).
News.com hits it on the nail right here:
The shakeups come at a time when video sharing is supposed to be the hottest segment in digital entertainment, thanks mostly to YouTube’s massive success. But some analysts are skeptical about whether video-sharing companies can make money and question whether advertisers will want their brands associated with content that is sometimes vulgar, violent and boring.
Worst still: I still think many of these companies are great (Revver, Veoh, Guba, etc etc etc.) but the only problem is that a) I cannot tell them apart and b) they’re VC funded and the VC are not exactly patient folks.
Of course, one thing of note in the article is that Guba avoided VC money:
McInerney, 34, said Guba has operated on a profit and that he and Lambrecht have avoided accepting venture capital.
Y’all know about my (not alone probably) Sequoia | Google | YouTube conspiracy, don’t ya?
Happy 2007!
Disclaimer: we actually work with many of the file sharing sites as many like to feature our content from WatchMojo.com, the Web TV company that - get this - actually creates content.
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