YouTube pulls a Hulu -- yanking API access from TV-connected devi

[reggie14]

I'm not entirely convinced Google is any less evil than Microsoft or Apple, but I think Google's actions here are perfectly justifiable. Sage and Popcorn Hour were/are both basically leaching off of Youtube without providing anything back. I don't think the current Youtube XL interface includes advertisements, but if Google controls the interface then its always an option to add them.

[jlmdxtv]

YouTube has been losing lots of money for Google since day 1 and will likely to always lose money. They are looking to change at least part of that. It's estimated that Google will have lost $470 just this year. See:
http://tinyurl.com/c6aq74

But realistically, Google isn't generating any of this content, we are, or some copyright holder like ABC is. They mostly deal with hosting it and infringement issues when/if they arise.

They would better deal with this issue by placing ads within the video frame and freely distribute the heck out of it. Besides, this idea of licensing of their API isn't going to cover much of that loss.

john

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

YouTube has been losing lots of money for Google since day 1 and will likely to always lose money. They are looking to change at least part of that. It's estimated that Google will have lost $470 just this year. See:
http://tinyurl.com/c6aq74

While I have not seen any stats, I have to believe that the most frequent users of youtube are in the 12-25 age group. And I don't think there is any demographic group more likely to jump ship and go find another place if youtube added commercials, or added "pay per" for certain content.

I realize that the topic of this thread is not that youtube itself is going "pay", but I think that any little steps they take that make the site less accessible or lead towards "pay per" will not help youtube earn money, it will just drive off users. Just like how napster users all moved on to the next p2p service, then the next one, then the next one... (granted, that wasn't napster's choice, it was the law! )

While we (Sage users) certainly have no "right" to get youtube, I think the worst business move you can make is to have a product that is free and available to everyone (with no disclaimer that you will eventually have to pay), and then later in the game, suddenly announce that everyone has to pay.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

While I have not seen any stats, I have to believe that the most frequent users of youtube are in the 12-25 age group. And I don't think there is any demographic group more likely to jump ship and go find another place if youtube added commercials, or added "pay per" for certain content.

I think those are very different things. I think Youtube has ingrained itself into the culture of the Internet enough that it's not going to be easy to migrate from it. It's not like P2P, where content migrated very smoothly from one network to another. I think people would grudgingly accept moderately intrusive, Hulu-style ads.

But, given the demographic, I don't think a pay model would work very well.

While we (Sage users) certainly have no "right" to get youtube, I think the worst business move you can make is to have a product that is free and available to everyone (with no disclaimer that you will eventually have to pay), and then later in the game, suddenly announce that everyone has to pay.

I don't know, it seems like offering an infrastructure-intensive service with no source of revenue in return seems like a worse business move to make.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I don't know, it seems like offering an infrastructure-intensive service with no source of revenue in return seems like a worse business move to make.

Well, yeah, there's that.

Honestly, I've never seen/read and interview with them, but I have to imagine that the youtube founders never imagined it blowing up like it did and they had never thought about the money-making/money-losing aspect of it. They probably just sorta got stuck with a product that was too big to cancel or change, and at the same time, too big to change and make profitable without angering everyone. Of course, Google bailed them out and gave them their payday... now Google is stuck with their problem...