The Importance of YouTube.com
April 6, 2010
Seeking Alpha’s “YouTube Much More Important Than Gmail for Google” reminded me that I don’t place sufficient emphasis on YouTube.com, Google’s controversial rich media service. I know that Google has a number of initiatives in rich media, including its recent acquisition of Episodic. The main point of the Seeking Alpha story struck me as:
For YouTube, we estimate that revenue per 1,000 page views increased from about 40 cents in 2005 to about $2.40 in 2009. We expect YouTube’s revenue per 1,000 page views to increase to nearly $10 by the end of the Trefis forecast period.
Google will have to continue its efforts to take advantage of the YouTube.com revenue opportunity. If text ads begin to deteriorate in the face of advertisers jumping to Facebook.com, Google may have to hurry its efforts to pump up YouTube.com’s financial performance.
The Seeking Alpha charts present some tasty charts, but I wonder, “Is time running out for Google in rich media?” The problem is not the iPad, which may or may not be a factor for Google. The challenge is the many different issues that Google now faces. These range from the interesting Viacom legal matter to Google’s role as a champion of uncensored Internet results. Toss in the continued interest in Facebook and the softness in certain economic data. With many complexities interacting, the uncertainty for Google may be at its highest point in the firm’s 11 year history.
YouTube.com is important, and rich media will be the making or breaking of some companies in the online space. Google wants to be on the upside of this shift from text to video, from keyword search to social information acquisition.
Stephen E Arnold, April 5, 2010
This post talks about law and international affairs. Which entity has oversight of uncompensated write ups? I will report non payment to the manager of the Northern Regional Research Lab, south of Chicago.
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