Coming Soon to YouTube: “Dude, Where’s My Business Model?”
by John Paczkowski
Posted on November 7, 2008 at 12:00 AM PT
We’re waiting for the innovations. The innovation will come. We know it will come. We know it’s there.”
Looks like the deal that brought “MacGyver” and other full-length CBS (CBS) TV programs to YouTube is one of many such agreements the site is pursuing with Hollywood. At least one of the big studios is nearing a deal that will bring its content to YouTube, perhaps by the end of this year. “It’s not imminent,” an executive with a major entertainment company told News.com. “But it’s going to happen. I would say you can expect to see it, if all goes well, sometime within the next 30 to 90 days.”
Under discussion, apparently, is an ad-supported streaming movie service similar to Hulu, the online video venture backed by NBC and Fox. Which is a perfectly good idea; Hulu’s proven it. But it’s certainly not an “innovation” in monetization or business model.
But it is, perhaps, an innovation in Google’s (GOOG) thinking. Because it suggests that the company has finally accepted the idea that major advertisers would much rather buy a pre-roll ad in, say, “The Office” than in “Cat Falls in Toilet” or “Leave Britney Alone.” And that’s something, right?
Comments
google doesn’t need to monetize youtube, it’s search business can subsidize it forever
Posted by Sam Harrison at November 6th, 2008 at 4:05 pm