In case you haven't heard yet, Google has purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. I can't even fathom that amount of money, let alone all the children that could be fed, clothed and put into a warm bed at night for that amount.
Apparently, the founders of YouTube are just giddy with joy. No bloody wonder! Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, cofounders of YouTube, prepared a short video message for YouTubers shortly after the acquisition. In between young executive giggle fits, the unspoken message was clear: "I'm rich."
The two have assured YouTube users that nothing will change on the site and visitors will still enjoy the wide array of videos. Hmmm… just wondering if we might one day have to pay to see and/or share them.
Meanwhile, those in the know are speculating as to what Google expects to really get out of the deal, other than a whole host of videos. It seems Google CEO Eric Schmidt is quite happy with the deal.
"In acquiring YouTube, Google has, in one fell swoop, increased their number of video streams - and potential ad revenue from streaming - tenfold," said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman.
ComScore claimed it measures actual video streaming activity, as opposed to market share of sites, and can better assess the online video arena. By the comScore numbers, Google will see a huge jump in the video streams people in the US view from their sites. In July 2006, Google delivered some 60 million streams to visitors. YouTube dished out 649 million in the same period. More than 106.5 mil US visitors viewed video content for the month.
Speculation has it that Google will also use the site to begin testing video advertising. The use of video for advertising is something Google hopes major advertisers will snap up, as the Internet becomes more and more important in people's everyday lives.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 5