Last week Viacom demanded that online video sharing site YouTube pull more than 100,000 of its video clips, which includes content from such networks as MTV and BET. According to one source, there have been over 1 billion video streams of the media giant's content.
So the questions arise: Is this a smart move for Viacom? Or does it even matter?
Removing videos from YouTube, if anything, diminishes promotional possibilities. As the majority of content viewed on YouTube is relatively short in length, generally speaking, the "pirated" video clips only serve as teasers. They are incentive for the viewer to watch/pay for the real thing. If the reason for the demand of the removal of these video clips is money, then YouTube may be a good place to start but rest assured it is not the only source of pirated Viacom video clips. While Google is in the process of developing "fingerprinting" technology and ways to share revenue with the rightful recipients, if money was really a concern then Viacom would have taken serious action long ago. Instead of pulling their video clips they should just wait a little longer and enjoy the perks of being exposed to millions of online viewers until they can monetize it even further. YouTube should be viewed as a promotional tool, not just another source of revenue.
However, like other media companies, Viacom may be preparing to negotiate a partnership with YouTube. This seems likely to occur, but I'm not so sure that removing 100,000 video clips is necessary. Albeit Viacom claims that Google and YouTube have not complied with previous requests to remove video clips, which would be unprofessional on Google's part, I can't imagine that the unauthorized video clips on YouTube really made a dent in Viacom's revenue. Is this a matter of money or of clout? Other large corporations have formed partnerships with YouTube after threatening action, like Universal Music did last year. YouTube has become over-saturated with corporate entities, especially since Google purchased it for an unspeakable amount of money ($1.65 billion. Really?). What once was a generally harmless way of sharing mainly user-generated videos has become the target for parasitic media corporations.
But does anyone really care? We can still watch our favorite video clips. I can still watch "Hard-Hitting Questions" by Liam Sullivan or learn how to play one of my favorite Nada Surf songs (both of which can be viewed below) without Viacom or anyone else but my Internet provider and self-discipline getting in the way. Personally, I spend time on YouTube to check out user-generated content, not TV or movie clips. I'm more interested in what unspoilt minds are creating. But that's just me.
Viacom should hop on the train already and cut a deal and put the videos back up on the site for those people that actually want to see them, if there are any.
Liam Sullivan - Hard-Hitting Questions
Nada Surf - Blizzard of '77
Information gratefully taken from Kenneth Li's article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment