Following in MySpace’s footsteps, YouTube is a bona fide phenomenon online. Depending on whom you believe, YouTube either had 12 million (comScore) or 20 million unique users (Nielsen) in May. Regardless, it’s a big number. YouTube is the dominant, category leader.
Also (via John Battelle) Bob Lefsetz discusses YouTube and the fact that after the Saturday Night Live “Lazy Sunday” skit was posted to YouTube the ratings for the show actually improved. This NY Times (reg. req’d) piece similarly describes how an all-but-dead series may be revived after rising to enormous popularity after being posted on YouTube.
In part because of the success of YouTube, though not entirely, Google has added a range of social features to Google Video, including ratings and tagging. Search Engine Journal has the complete rundown.
Last week, the WSJ (sub. req’d) reported on YouTube trying to build a “lasting business” but that it hadn’t figured out a business model yet. Well here’s Lulu.tv, which is going to share fees with content producers based on traffic they generate rather than serve traditional ads before or beside the videos.
October 14, 2006 at 12:13 pm |
[...] These guys all love and hate both YouTube and Google. The love it because of all the exposure and promotion they get (recall how unauthorized streams of skit “Lazy Sunday” boosted ratings for NBC’s SNL and triggered a deal with YouTube). And for similar reasons people both love and hate Google — they like the distribution but hate the dependency. [...]
December 21, 2006 at 9:51 pm |
[...] As you may recall the SNL “Lazy Sunday” videos were a viral phenomenon on YouTube and actually boosted SNL’s ratings. NBC first asked YouTube to pull the material but later did a deal with the site after recognizing the marketing value and that it had exposed millions of users to the material who might not have seen the show. [...]