Have you noticed how 2007 has changed the euphoric mood at video sharing websites? Sure, YouTube’s paid off big time with a $1.6B sale to Google, but as we suggested, it is going to get a lot rougher and tougher for the rest of the field to gain any traction.
Last week, Viacom and CBS told YouTube off, here is our rationale as to why Google/YouTube is not acting like a good corporate citizen.
Yesterday we found out that Veoh is not even large enough to merit the big studios’ attention.
Today we read that Revver is trying to find a niche and MSFT was considering buying it after it struggled to develop a sustainable business model, but passed. Maybe this reality has something to do with it:
When it came to convincing large entertainment companies to sign up, most of them flat out rejected Revver’s offer, according to a source close to the company. Studio executives told Revver that they weren’t interested in any plan that compensated amateurs on the same scale with professional filmmakers.
“The marketplace told Revver, ‘If you think we’re going to offer our premium content on the same basis with videos shot at a frat party, you’re out of your mind,’” said the source
Hollywood wanted different compensation levels for professionals and amateurs. It never happened and less than a year later, Revver’s plan to pursue partnerships with the studios has been mothballed, according to multiple sources.
Hmm… this graph is starting to make more and more sense now, isn’t it?
User generated accounts for the bulk of traffic online, but let’s face it, it’s not very realistic to monetize it, and until video goes from hype to substance, the TV producers won’t flock online (and when they do, they will muck it, anyway)… what does this all mean for the Revver/Guba/GoFish/Veoh/[insert anyone else here] crowd: it’s going to start sucking when you are paying a lot in hosting and bandwidth fees and all you have to show for it is a video of two girls kissing at a frat party… then again, that ain’t too bad, now is it?
Until now, we thought that YouTube - the big cahuna in the room - would be able to shelter itself as a result of both having the audience and the content, but Google/YouTube are taking an arrogant stance in talks with the media companies and I think over time YouTube will lose more battles than it will win…
Whether or not this means “opportunity” for Joost or someone else, I don’t know. I doubt Joost is going about it the perfect way… Ultimately, this space is wide open and it seems that when the scale tips, it has a lot to do with one’s mistake or lack of execution rather that another entity’s action.
Certainly is an interesting time and place in online video. Content is king… technology - and to some extent audience/distribution - is being commoditized. If you doubt me, read MSN’s Entertainment head honcho Rob Bennett’s quotes: “we have twelve times the audience YouTube has” (…) “we tried to see if we could integrate Revver’s technology into MSN’s Soapbox.” Trust me, that is not “wow, this is so unique that we absolutely need the IT,” it’s “ok, we could duplicate that in a couple of weeks…”
Content, try duplicating an archive of thousands of video clips. I hate to say it, but Sumner Redstone is right on this one, the consumer does not care about distribution, they care about content.
On a very related note, pardon my bias, but check out WatchMojo.com’s 4,000+ original video clips here.
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