Coalition of Media Giants Against Google Announce “YouTube Killer”
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | March 22, 2007 | Share This
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Last night NBC and News Corp announced their intentions to build a true “YouTube Killer”. They’ve signed distribution deals with other Google rivals, AOL, MSN, Myspace and Yahoo! From the press release,
“News Corporation and NBC Universal will launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film…The video-rich site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios.
AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! will be the new site’s initial distribution partners. Their users, who represent 96 percent of the monthly U.S. unique users on the Internet, will have unlimited access to the site’s vast library of content. This media alliance will offer consumers free long- and short-form video and create a compelling platform for advertisers, targeting the rapidly growing audience of online video consumers. Charter advertisers include Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel and General Motors.
At launch, full episodes and clips from current hit shows, including Heroes, 24, House, My Name Is Earl, Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Lights, The Riches, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, The Tonight Show, Prison Break, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and Top Chef, plus hits from the studios’ vast television libraries, will be available free, on an ad-supported basis, within a rich consumer experience featuring personalized video playlists, mashups, online communities and video search. Plus, the extensive programming lineup will include fan favorite films like Borat, Little Miss Sunshine, Devil Wears Prada, The Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy with bonus materials and movie trailers. Post-launch, plans will be considered for acquiring additional content as well as producing and licensing original programming for the new site’s audience.”
This has been rumored for some time, but has not yet come to fruition because of revenue sharing disputes. Currently the major television networks have full episodes and clips available on their respective websites, but they’ve each taken a different approach to online video. For this and other reasons, many predict that a partnership based solely on competition with google will inevitably self-destruct. The group could easily break over revenue sharing, usability, or design disputes.
On the other hand, such a coalition would have an unmatched library of content. Besides potential ad revenue, the site could serve as a valuable video archive. Jeff Jarvis offers suggestions to this effect,
“Every moment in a show should thus have a permalink that makes it a linkable part of conversations. At VON, I saw a company called Gotoit that enables just this: you can send people directly to that moment you want to talk about. That is vital: We, the people — not the producers, programmers, and network execs — need to be the recommenders, not the producers; that’s the point of viral distribution.
At first, this will also be about just the big guys’ shows and movies. As you can predict, I argue that if they want this to succeed, it also must include small TV, our TV, the TV we are reinventing. That doesn’t mean that they should air all the flaming farts. But the smart things to do will be to find the great new talent and give it a means of distribution and control and monetization — which the little guys want, like the big guys, a point made at the end of my VON spiel. And then the networks will like networks.”
Further Reading:
- News Corp, NBC May Announce Distributed YouTube Competitor Today; Google Scoffs (TechCrunch)
- Video: In This Corner News Corp. and NBC… (Screenwerk)
- NBC/News Corp. Site Faces Challenges (the Groundswell)
Topics: Google, Media Convergence, Search: Video, Technology |
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