Video Sharing: YouTube

A Look at the phenomenon

What is online video sharing?A quick and dirty definition:

Broadcasting content through a video hosting service Works because the media is translated into the same “language” code (Adobe Flash, on YouTube)

Benefits the user No required knowledge to upload, stream, or embed data Low-cost (or no cost!) Community-based, by sharing a server

Video sharing websites

The leader in online video content:

Data from http://www.hitwise.com

YouTube popularity

• Two-thirds of all video views are on YouTube, and is the primary video-viewer for various sites (like SlideShare.net)

• Last March the site had 90 million visitors… 10 times more than the next largest competitor, Hulu

• Last August, YouTube boasted over 7 million video streams…20 times more than Hulu

Data from http://en-us.nielsen.com/rankings/insights/rankings/internetand http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/youtube/index.html

What sets YouTube apart?• no advertising before watching a video, continual resistance to the “big

name” media

• most content created or added by individuals

• innovation in uploading: embedding in other sites and to mobile devices

• popularity = large viewing audience for users

• early entrance into the market . . .

YouTube founders:Chad Hurley and Steve Chen

Photo by Michael Grecco, 2006. From http://www.time.com

2005: former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim discuss issue of sharing video after dinner party (legendary story)

Inspiration to create a “Hot Or Not” –like site, but with video

Idea shifts from “Hot Or Not” to all video, and credit cards are maxed. Hurley and Chen take charge.

October 2005: Site gains notoriety from a few viral videos, like Nike ad with Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho. Venture capitalists and silicon valley companies invest ≈$8.5 million

2006: Google purchases YouTube for $1.65 billion

YouTube history

Organization using YouTube: NikeJuly 29, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEdYueahO8

Organization using YouTube: NikeJuly 29, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBWRfhBlX24

Nike on YouTube…– SUBLIMINAL ads: Ronaldinho & Kobe Bryant for Hyperdunk

– EPISODIC ads: Nike SB

– HIGH VALUE ads: Guy Ritchie directs footballer commercial, 2008

As featured on culture-buzz.com and telegraph.co.uk, Nike ads have garnered positive reviews and repeat video sharing

More YouTube successes:

using YouTube: U2October 24, 2009

using YouTube: Chris Crocker, the Britney Spears superfan

Britney Spears performs at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards to much criticism

Chris Crocker makes numerous pleas in September of 2007 via VLOG to “leave Britney alone”

Crocker’s vlog becomes the second most discussed video in YouTube history, with over 425,000 comments

The vlog currently has had over 27 million views

Crocker’s YouTube channel has over 260,000 subscribers, he has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, and guest-hosted segments on VH1

using YouTube: other organizations you can find

U.S. government: Health concerns, public safety

News outlets: Associated Press, CBS News, and others have their own YouTube “channels”

Television on YouTube “shows”: The Amazing Race, Grey’s Anatomy, The Jimmy Kimmel Show, 20/20

A problem for YouTube providing service to organizations…

Profit margin must cover the cost of server space,

site maintenance, and new developments

Source of the problem:No advertising before watching

a video

Wait…what?

What sets YouTube apart?

• no advertising before watching a video, continual resistance to the “big name” media

• most content created or added by individuals

• innovation in uploading: embedding in other sites and to mobile devices

• popularity = large viewing audience for users

• early entrance into the market . . .

Solutions to ad revenue problem: • The“thrifty” approach of Hurley and Chen

• Side-bar advertising

• Product giveaways– Example: iPod giveaway for Babylon’s YouTube video competition, how translation

has changed your life

• Call-to-action overlay ads– Drive traffic to sites off of YouTube– As of June 30, 2009, YouTube no longer restricts use of ads to certain partners,

content, or video genres– Creates “YouTube Promoted Videos”

• Generating revenue through deals with television and music media outlets– Example: Warner Music to allow hosting of music videos– YouTube hosts CBS (Hulu, owned by Disney, hosts NBC, Fox, and ABC)

Another problem for YouTube:Copyright infringement, similar to Napster

The latest ending case:A group of 25 music publishers, producers, and musicians from Germany suing YouTube for server log information that reveals who shared their copyrighted content

YouTube continues to deal with copyright issues

Google CEO Eric Schmidt responds, “Copyright law, the safe-harbor provisions—it works, as long as we do a

good job of takedown.”

Note: Parodies and examples of free speech are not taken down, are protected by free speech. Opposition to this practice is evidenced by the Thai government’s ban of the site.s

YouTube: looking forward New innovations all the time

Example: In the past week, YouTube introduces “trending topics” as a real-time search of video comments, similar to Twitter

Changing content: Lawsuit outcomes, copyright issues Negative media press, YouTube “celebrity” and trends with teens Tastes of vloggers: Personal bios and how-tos moving over to more

independent YouTube competitors

Freedom of speech—be it by the individual or commercial conglomerate—sharing space and communicating directly with the world at large

Sources:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570721-2,00.html

http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/youtube/index.html

http://en-us.nielsen.com/rankings/insights/rankings/internet

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/specials/the-top-ten-time-travel-films-of-all-time.php

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2354485,00.asp

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4901/How-to-Use-YouTube-s-Call-to-Action-Overlay-Ads.aspx

http://www.culture-buzz.com/blog/Nike-Bets-on-YouTube-1649.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3117854/Guy-Ritchies-Nike-advert-a-YouTube-hit.html

http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2009/09/warner-music-comes-back-to-youtube.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20750575/

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1842653,4_1_JO24_FLU_S1-091024.article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-territo/new-jersey-man-arrested-a_b_332200.html

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/web/german-musicians-to-sue-youtube-their-own-fans-644610

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/210256/youtube_vs_the_thai_government.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2354485,00.asp

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/win-a-new-ipod-touch-with-babylons-youtube-video-competition-65935127.htmlhttp://www.negotiationlawblog.com/articles/movies-tv-youtube/

http://gizmodo.com/tag/fair-use/