Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but ever since Google
announced their purchase of YouTube it seems that copyright owners are coming
out of the woodwork, forcing YouTube to remove content. Mark Glaser is a good example of one YouTube
user who isn’t too happy about the situation. He makes some excellent points about how YouTube has been a great
platform for Stephen Colbert, but at the end of the day, if Comedy Central
doesn’t enforce their ownership rights it only makes it harder to enforce them
in the future.
I’ve said all along that I disagree with Mark Cuban and I
think YouTube can be a sustainable business. But, part of achieving sustained success is
working with the content owners, not against them. Heck, even if YouTube disappears tomorrow
Google can sleep comfortably, knowing (a) they prevented a competitor from
making the purchase and (b) it only cost them some pocket change.
Comedy Central (and other) content will undoubtedly
disappear for a bit from YouTube. Look
for it to reappear with advertisements rolled in. That’s all the content owners really want, a
piece of a revenue pie. They can’t be
too greedy though; as I’ve also noted before, the online revenue base is going
to be much, much smaller than the one they’re used to capturing via cable. Those who opt for greed will disappear from
YouTube and never come back. Good luck
to those folks as they try to build their own traffic; better to have a small
slice of something than to have 100% of nothing.
Timing is critical as well. YouTube can ill afford to lose all the copyrighted
content that’s driving so much traffic to their site. It will be interesting to see how quickly
YouTube can integrate a pre-roll, post-roll, AdSense or some other advertising
model. It will also be
fascinating to see how YouTube users react to something more obtrusive than the
banner advertising currently in place.
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