International Law

Resisting YouTube's lure

MediaWeek reports on the growing trend of saying "no" to YouTube:

Based on the recent slew of online video distribution deals, media?s biggest companies are sending YouTube a clear message: We don?t need you.

At least that?s the stance of companies like Viacom and NBC Universal, which continue to resist placing their content on the Web?s largest video site (the site reached 75 million people in December, according to comScore).

Indeed, a year after Viacom and YouTube began their staring contest?starting with video clips being pulled off the site and, soon after, leading to a lawsuit?neither company has blinked.

Since then, save for CBS, few major broadcasters have signed syndication deals with YouTube even as they put more video all over the Web ...

Acquired by Google in October 2006, YouTube has yet to establish itself as a legitimate, comprehensive hub for professionally produced content. And perhaps as an indirect result, it remains a minor player in the booming online video ad market, according to digital buyers and sellers.

Theories abound as to why media conglomerates won?t work with YouTube: They don?t want to give Google more power; YouTube only pays lips service to protecting copyrights; Google?s terms are just too rigid.

Some also point to YouTube?s user-gen sensibility and lack of ad-friendly professional content as holding the site back. ?Not a lot of advertisers are willing to throw their brand into that environment,? said Kristen Fergason, vp, marketing at Maven Networks, which powers Web video for Fox News and Scripps.

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).