Pay Per Click Advertising and SEO » Youtube

YouTube ‘Shows’ is go!

Matt Thomas — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:37:06 +0000

YouTube’s landmark TV deal with channel 4 has started bearing fruit. The channel signed a three year deal to provide full length shows on YouTube earlier this year and the new section of YouTube, entitled ‘shows’ is set to go live today. The section will include nearly 5’000 videos, 4’000 of which will be full-length programmes.

This move has seen an escalation of the battle between the online TV providers, specifically 4OD and BBC iPlayer. Up until now, the competition has been weighted by far in the iPlayer’s favour, owing mainly to the fact that the iPlayer system is seen as a much more user-friendly platform.

However, the new YouTube based 4OD system looks like it might just be able to compete. The interface is comparable to iPlayers and the selection is considerably better, especially considering the fact that it’s not only channel 4 programmes that are being shown – you can also get offerings from ITV, HBO, et al.

Looks like the online catch-up battle is about to get interesting…

Is YouTube about to finally make some Money?

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:44:16 +0000

You might expect a video streaming site that recently revealed that it is getting one billion video views a week to be making money hand over fist though it hasn’t quite been that simple for video streaming leader, YouTube. The site has struggled to make a return appropriate to its size for years now, actually, it’s failed to make any profit at all.

However, it would seem that’s set to change now that YouTube is finally about to make some real money – the company has announced that it has tripled the amount of views it is able to monetise with adverts since this time last year.

This is largely due to the introduction of the YouTube ‘Content ID’ system, the fingerprinting system that allows rights holders to either block or make money from unauthorised use of their content. This has not only allowed YouTube to monetise more of the ‘semi-legal’ offerings with ads on the site but also, it has saved YouTube a lot of the time and expense that legal actions against them were taking up.

Channel 4 signs YouTube deal

James Oliver — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:49:14 +0000

Channel 4 have signed a deal with YouTube that will allow the world’s biggest streaming content provider to show its programmes. Both parties are remaining tight lipped on the subject of how much – if any – money changed hands but Channel 4 representatives have indicated that any advertising revenue will be split between the two companies.

YouTube, who recently announced that the site now streams over one billion videos a day, will be hoping that the huge amount of premium content that Channel 4 can provide will boost their viewership still further. It is also likely to be of huge benefit to channel four, pushing their programmes to a greater audience than ever before, though the site have confirmed that channel 4 programmes will only be available in the UK.

Channel 4 have had their own streaming site, ‘4od’, for a number of years now, though it has had a mixed reception, and has been seen by many as losing out in terms of prominence and usability to BBC’s iPlayer.

Ofcom reveals some interesting VOD Stats

Jenny Sanderson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:44:45 +0000

UK regulator, Ofcom has released a report today that reveals the true proliferation of video on demand (VOD). The report reveals that that just under one in three (29% to be exact) of all UK adults regularly watch or download video content. However, the really interesting part is that, in contrast to reports in some media, most of those adults are viewing the content on the entirely legal catch up services offered on services such as iPlayer and, to a lesser extent 4od.

Furthermore, the survey also revealed a surprising lack of support for illegal file sharing overall amongst UK adults, with 42% believing that all file sharing should be made illegal. However, those stats differ considerably amongst younger adults, with 55% believing that the practice should not be against the law.

In a way, the statistics are not surprising, especially when viewed in the context of internet use, with a massive 73% now now online.

YouTube reaches 1 Billion hits per day

James Oliver — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:00:27 +0000

According to a video blog post from Chad Hurley, one of YouTube’s founders, the world’s most popular streaming video website currently enjoys more than a billion hits per day. The announcement marks the third anniversary of the site’s $1.65 buyout by Google, a price those within the search engine giant have since described as ‘a premium’.

The announcement comes at the end of a year that has seen no shortage of controversy for YouTube, after the site was criticised for the royalties it paid for hosting music videos. The crisis led to a standoff that resulted in music videos being taken off YouTube. YouTube averted catastrophe by paying an undisclosed fee to PRS, (the performing rights society) though it neatly highlights the dangers inherent in being the streaming video leader.

As part of the vlog, Hurley reflected on the original aims of the site. “We wanted to create a place where anyone with a video camera, a computer, and an internet connection can share their life, art, and voice with the world, and in many cases they can make a living from doing so.”

YouTube drops most of its Music Videos

James Oliver — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:39:29 +0000

The guys at YouTube must be wondering whether they’ll ever resolve the issues with music on their site. Not only are they still trying to resolve issues with record companies relating to the showing of music videos on their site, yesterday they lost most of their most popular videos as a result of a separate battle with the Performing Rights Society (PRS), the body responsible for collecting royalties for musicians.

The issue, from YouTube’s point of view anyway, is that after the expiry of the deal they had in place with PRS expired, they imposed new terms which would have made it financially prohibitive for the site. In fact YouTube claim that PRS wanted more to show the videos than YouTube actually make from the adverts next to them.

Another sticking point was that PRS were refusing to let YouTube know which songs and performers were covered by which license which is integral to YouTube’s content ID system, the system which reimburses rights holders every time a song is viewed.

The real losers in all this are the musicians, most of whom are far from wealthy and will not be happy about losing a revenue stream like this. In an attempt to head off this wave of bad publicity PRS rushed to point out that it did not advise YouTube to remove the videos and in fact counselled them against it

YouTube viewers break the 100 million barrier

Matt Thomas — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:00:20 +0000

According to comScore, 14.8 billion online video were watched in January. The principal was, obviously, the Google controlled, YouTube, whose users exceeded 100 million for the first time in the opening month of 2009. Startling as the web viewing figures are, they are part of a longstanding trend and actually represent only a four percent increase on December’s figures.

It has been hypothesised by analysts that the recession has had a huge effect on the viewership of online content, with people hesitant to go out. Preferring instead, to save their money and view one of the millions of videos available with a click of a mouse from their computer. Combine this with the fact that everyone is broke anyway in January and the European January weather and you have an online content, perfect storm.

During January, YouTube, who control 43 percent of the online video market, logged more than 100 million unique visitors. Even more impressively, the average YouTube user watches around 62 videos a month, each one lasting for an average of 3.5 minutes. That’s a phenomenal amount of people’s time spent on a website.

YouTube download testing marches on

James Oliver — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:00:38 +0000

In their continuing quest to finally make the massive amounts of money everyone seems to be sure they can, YouTube continues to advance its downloadable videos feature. Selected YouTube partners now have the option to allow downloads, either for a fee via Google checkout, or for free.

The partners chosen to test the free download options are American educational institutions including UC Berkeley, UCTV, Stanford and Duke. On the paid side, the lucky partners who get to make some money out of their affiliation with YouTube, or at least more money than usual, include householdhacker, khanacademy and pogobat.

If this works, it could be a very profitable venture for the number one video sharing site, but haven’t we said that before? However, this could finally be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. Some are even talking about YouTube as a competitor to iTunes!

That’s obviously still a way off but with the kind of traffic that YouTube enjoys there really should be a way to turn an honest dollar somewhere along the line… Surely.