Rumor: Full-Length Movies Coming to YouTube?
According to CNET's Greg Sandoval, full-length movies might be coming to YouTube in the near future. According to Sandoval, who bases his report on "two execs with knowledge of the negotiations," Google has been in negotiations with major Hollywood film companies for quite a while now. These movies would be monetized through ads, though it isn't clear if these would be standard pre- or post-roll ads, or if Google is planning to roll out a new ad format for these movies.
It is, of course, no secret that Google is having a very hard time monetizing YouTube. While it is one of Google's most successful acquisitions in terms of its userbase (more people now perform searches on YouTube than on Yahoo), it has at best been a loss leader for Google so far.
As Sandoval also points out, the video quality on YouTube falls short when compared to some of Google's competitors like Vimeo or services which already specialize in streaming TV shows and movies like Hulu or Joost. Also, the success of this venture would greatly depend on the movie selection.
It is also interesting that YouTube would be trying to woo the film industry. After all, Google has had a rocky relationship with the movie industry for years and has been regularly sued because of film and TV clips its users shared on the service. However, having premium, licensed content on YouTube would allow Google to circumvent the potential copyright issues which have kept it from rolling out advertising on a wider scale so far.
One option for Google would also be to buy a blanket license from the studios that would give its users a safe harbor for sharing clips from these studies, while allowing Google to sell advertising against it.
Would You Watch Movies on YouTube?
It's also worth noting that most users only watch relatively short video clips online. So while there is a potential market for the film industry and Google here, it would seem that monetizing this content won't be easy on YouTube.
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One challenge will be the amount of web apps that can download YouTube vids as .Mov and .Mpeg files. There would have to be extra security measures or studios are basically giving away their films for free.
>Would You Watch Movies on YouTube?
yep
"Would You Watch Movies on YouTube?"
yes, of course...since I am banned from Hulu!
Also, YouTube has been monkeying around with "theater mode":
http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=F1xABdzKby4
...if that help stoke the rumor fire.
P.S. Says plain as day on the YouTube blog they are testing full length content:
http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=F1xABdzKby4
CNET's Greg Sandoval = FAIL!
If the quality of the video is flawless, I think it will take on, especially if free. This can be a smart business decision since Hulu is slowly gaining speed with all their great online video and already offers some movies online. I am a little surprised to see Youtube go in this direction, are you?
Craig
https://www.budgetpulse.com//
To make money with YouTube, this is what Google has to do...
On the most viewed clips (clips with, let say, at least 1000 views) (doesn't matter who posted them) you implement a 5 seconds overlay ad, that appears over the player and blocks out (darkens) everything else. (It gives a bit of time for the clip to load in the background as well).
This overlay is a 5 seconds spot (can't be longer than that and it doesn't link to a company website if you click on it. It's like a really, really short TV spot. It can be a still picture for outfits with very little budgets...)
Now, people don't like ads... but they like GAMES and they like to COLLECT stuff.
Each overlay ad is a mini 5 seconds GAME. You have three colored dots on the overlay. The viewer clicks on ONE of them. One is a winner, two are duds. If you're lucky to pick the winner (you only have one chance) during the 5 secs, you receive a TOKEN that is automatically added to your YouTube account. (It encourages you to stay registered...)
Now, you COLLECT these tokens. If you win a certain number of similar tokens, you can EXCHANGE them against full-length HD Hollywood Films or TV shows on YouTube. The fun part could be that you have different categorires of tokens. (Some would be for specific film genres or just for one TV show and some could be really hard to find, worth maybe ten tokens, etc.) (Tokens are generated randomly by the system.)
Now, you have the problem of guys posting shows and seeing Google make money off their film. Well, they need to be rewarded too. For a succesful posting (ie lots of viewers) they receive TOKENS as well to be exchanged to watch high-quality HD movies or TV shows...
Now, these HD movies or TV shows can also be sponsored with a longer lead-in spot... That's even more money for Google.
Now, we have the problem of big brand names not wanting to have their spots stuck on "Jimmy and his weird cat"... Well, they could "control" where their 5 Secs. spots go by teaming with content suppliers through YouTube. Example, a Coca-Cola campaign with Viacom clips... Viacom takes all the succesful shows they own like, as an example, "Spongebob". They cut out little "gems", two to three minute clips and they post them on YouTube to watch for free... Viacom via Google sell their 5 second spots to Coca-cola. Everybody is happy. The viewer, who enjoys these mini-clips, can even link to the full episode of Spongebob on YouTube. He can pay by redeeming TOKENS or he can PAY with a CC for the full episode or combine both. (It's all streaming! It's like TV a la carte.)
Now, what about the "Jim and his weird cat" clips. Who pays for these 5 secs ads? Well, it's like Google's Adsense, it's small outfits who purchase so many spots. You can buy a thousand spots or ten thousand spots to be randomly placed on clips or based on the clip's TAGS. The outfit supplies the spot or the still and pays Google directly up front.
A system like this is not that difficult to implement. It's fun for all involved. Everybody is a winner especially Google who makes tons of money from the big guys but also... most importantly...from the long, long tail of all the little guys. Viewers are hooked to YouTube forever!
Here, you have it.
Twowan,
(If Google wants more ideas like this one, they can contact me. I'm the guy behind laboratoryfilms.com)
I have not enough bandwidth to see you tube videos I am on sluggish cable internet connection.
There would be better alternatives to make money on YouTube than having to show movies on it.
Maybe people can sell their videos by subscription basis and Google can make money from it as well from ads.
Thank you.
Wonderful, I can't wait, television in Italy sucks
"...would seem that monetizing this content won't be easy..."
I wonder how their going to deal with this? I'm sure ads won't be enough. Maybe, like a pay per view.
YouTube is great for watching short user-gen videos, and it may well also be good for watching full-length movies – but there are currently plenty of movie watching sites out there. What YouTube and many others lack is a real sense of social activity. Lycos Cinema (cinema.lycos.com) is distinct in that it brings the social experience of watching movies with friends and fellow fans to the online experience – you can watch thousands of films (as well as TV content) in viewing rooms that allow you to chat in real-time with other audience members, or schedule viewing parties for your friends.