Tuesday Morning GooTubing…
from the let-the-post-deal-debates-bloom dept
Well, we said last week that, whether or not it was actually happening, there was little point in digging into a Google buyout of YouTube until it actually happened. And, of course, now that it has happened, the discussions are coming fast and furious. Mark Cuban set himself up nicely to get all of the post-deal attention, but there are plenty of other opinions being spread around, from “good deal” to “bad deal” and everywhere in between. There’s some questioning as to whether or not this is an eBay buying Skype type of deal — but that seems a bit too extreme. There was almost no rational explanation for the eBay/Skype tie up (and every one they’ve trotted out since has pretty much been shown not to be true).
In this case, though, there are some differences. Google already had a competing product that was doing well, but appeared to be a distant second in the hype game. Bringing in YouTube and combining the two (which will be done eventually, no matter how much they talk up the separation) does wipe out the competitor. Secondly, it keeps YouTube out of a competitor’s hands. This is probably a much bigger reason. It seems like some execs at Google really, really do regret not buying MySpace three months before News Corp. at half the price. At the time that tidbit hit the news, it seemed like an affirmation of Google’s philosophy to buy technology and build community, rather than the other way around. But, then, just a few months later, Google ended up agreeing to a $900 million ad deal with MySpace. Yes, that’s a $900 million ad deal just a year after they apparently could have bought the entire company for approximately $250 million. Think that doesn’t cause some execs somewhere to take notice?
Of course, what remains to be seen is whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Andy Kessler has an interesting writeup where he basically suggests this move follows a bunch of warning signs from Google, that suggest Google is finally coming to terms with the idea that they need to do something different — that they’ve become a media company. Of course, as with just about everything Google, when they decide to do something, they like to do it on their own terms. So, “media company” may mean something entirely different to Google, and perhaps they really do see YouTube as a core part of that. Either way, it’s a much bigger acquisition than Google is used to making (though, mainly in terms of money — YouTube still is a relatively small company), so it will be interesting to see how successful they are in merging it into whatever “bigger” strategy the company has. And, of course, the big question is always going to be if they can squeeze more than $1.6 billion out of it.
Comments on “Tuesday Morning GooTubing…”
GooTube
Google Video was a better product but Youtube had the prolitariat. Now google has all.
Terrible Contraction of Names
GooTube???
Eewwww – sounds like something my gramma rubs on her bunions.
Segmentation... part 2
A few topics ago i posted a comment about segmentation. Here i go again.
Youtube, with it’s millions of viewers (who LOG IN, and stay logged in) is a perfect platform for Google ads.
Oh, and have you seen the “My Friends” button in the youtube menu? It’s another attempt at social networking… well done youtube.
Suppose for a moment that you have a gmail account, and you send an email to your buddy telling him you are in the mood for a few beers. Then, you log into youtube to watch the latest sports clips. And you just happen to have a MySpace account with a bunch of friends who are sports fans… guess what? You are going to receive ads about beer, sports, and big screen TVs (to watch those sports on of course)…
Those ads are relevant to you. Whether you admit it or not, you are bound to click on one, or better, continue to pile more keywords in your emails, friends and links in your myspace account, and perform more searches on google and youtube.
Pretty soon, when all you get are advertisements about a specific beer you do drink, with pics half nekid chicks who just so happen to have your favorite color hair…well, you cant complain… you do like those things… it’s just a matter of segmentation.
take that to the masses, and you have a highly effective marketing program. The age of blasting everyone with the same message is long gone. We are fast approaching a time of personalized marketing.
I, for one, hate it when i have to sit though TV commercials about SnapOn tools while i watch Monster Garage… i dont fix chit, i just like the show…
Boobtoogle
You know…
I didn’t know just how bad the copyright violations were until I heard in wow that the new influx of noobs was because of the southpark episode that ran the night before…
someone in the game suggusted I go watch the episode cause it was supposedly quite hilarious to anyone familiar with the game.
Since it has been years (literally) since the last time I watched a tv show on tv, I asked them when the replay was supposed to be on comedy central. They laughed (ok.. they LOL’d…), and said to just go to youtube and search southpark wow, and the first result would be the show, make sure you watch all three parts.
Thinking… this is gonna suck, I went for it.
Not only was that far better quality then I had suspected that was far more convenient than I had expected.
So, uh… yeah… I watched it. Without any commercials at all. If there were ads on the page, I didn’t notice them.
Having just witnessed the “power of the pirates” that youtube has granted… I really don’t understand how they can actually operate legally.
How can that be any more “legal” than all of mp3 or piratebay.org?
Sorry, but now that I have seen firsthand why youtube has so many devouts, all I can say is its only a matter of time until it gets completely forced offshore – OR – the “model” is altered quite a bit and the rampant violations of copyright is somehow removed.
Of course, I woudl also argue that removing the copyright violations woudl also remove the fanbase, and google would ahve spent alot of money for a bunch of servers they could ahve assembled themselves for a lot less money.
I still can’t seem to fathom WTF google thinks they can do with this deal that they couldnt have done themselves.
This leads me to STIL believe that they did this solely to inflate their stock price. It had nothing to do with good business sense, and everything to do with stock price.
Well, one thing is for sure… This has brought the youtube site some good advertising, and I will now be watching all the tv shows I feel like for free whenever I feel like without having to buy a dvr and, hell, without having to subscribe to cable.
Before, I abandoned my boobtube because it was the most annoying and inconvenient form of entertainment available. It was annoying and inconvenient because the lack of real on-demand (and there’s still a lack of real on-demand via traditional cable in my area), but youtube has fixed that by enabling th epirate community.
So, uh, thanks boobtoogle, I will now enjoy tv again. Commercial free, whenever I want, where-ever I want. I just don’t quite understand how anyone can possible be making money off of this…
Re: Boobtoogle
Youtube isn’t exactly new. I think it’s worth asking at this point why they haven’t been hounded by the **AAs to the same degree as other possibly infringing enterprises before declaring what is to come.
99% of Google’s revenue comes from advertising. Does that sound like a good business plan?
They have to do something to support their stock and market price. Is this it? Will this help? If I knew that, I wouldn’t be posting here, I would be on the phone with my broker either shorting or buying their stock.
Re: Re:
Google’s business plan is apparently working out quite well for them. It’s short-sighted to say that 99% of their revenue is from “advertising”. It’s actually from that brand new concept called Search Engine Optimization that causes vast amounts of web-based companies to figure out new and interesting ways of getting on the top of the list of the number one search engine. When the NYSE heard of the *rumor* that Google was *thinking* of buying YouTube, Google’s stock sky-rocketed immediately. Sounds like a pretty good business plan to me.
Re: Re: Re:
When the NYSE heard of the *rumor* that Google was *thinking* of buying YouTube, Google’s stock sky-rocketed immediately. Sounds like a pretty good business plan to me.
Thats bubble-talk mister!
Playing games with your corporate strategy in order to get your stock price inflated is not the same as having a (solid) business plan.
Playing games in order to get your stock price inflated is either called a pump-n-dump or its an indication that we are in another bubble. Take your pick.
GooTube
Shouldn’t we give credit to the GooTube word maker?
Thanks for the word Mark Cuban.
Source:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/09/i-still-think-google-is-crazy/
Re: GooTube
Give credit?
No, I don’t give credit for shit. You’d have to pay me to take it.
No commercials? what were you watching?
That Southpark show was loaded with commercials. Playing WOW, Drinking “Rockstar”, Army sticker on computer, These are all built in commercials.
The model of stopping a show for three minutes to show commercials, is a model of the past. New shows have the commercial built right in so you can’t TIVO past them.
Don’t worry, the powers that be will still find ways to sell crap to you.
How to 'remove' copyright material - think Riya fo
Google undoubtedly has some smart real-time video recognition thing up their sleeve that recognizes “copyrighted” (i.e. not in a ‘deal’ yet) material. As Joe BoobTube uploads his latest material the engine scans the content and presents a “Sorry the video you submitted contains copyrighted material. click here to complain.”
And the rest already has ads in it for shit.
#9
I did not see any of those things. But for some reason after I was done watching the show I found myself at the army recruiters office the next day.
Now I understand why!
Re: #9
You watched the whole episode and didnt see anyone playing wow??!?!
WoW
Anyone know where I can get a Sword of 1000 Truths? Maybe Google will offer it as a download on GooTube. For the business model, who cares. Google is rolling in the money. If they make a stupid mistake and throw it all away, someone will be there to replace them next week. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to workon my ultimate goal of reaching lvl 60 so I do not get tore up in the raids of WoW.
Re: WoW
Anyone know where I can get a Sword of 1000 Truths?
Of course, its on a flash drive in a lockbox in a desk in the accountants office.
It isn’t short sighted to say that 99% of Googles revenue comes from advertising because 99% of their revenue does come from advertising. Its not an opinion, its a fact.
Re: Re:
yeah… but it might be a fact that has to wear glasses for being nearsighted.
no, wait… thats nearsight… not short sight..
sorry to bother you