Google: Not Just Publishing, Think Hollywood
April 19, 2009
The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Matt Hartley did a good job of explaining that Google is more than a disruptive force in traditional publishing. His “Google Unveils Hollywood Ambitions” here makes the cat that has been out of the bag show up on the radar of newspaper readers. He wrote “Web giant poised to bring full length movies and television programs to YouTube.” He added:
Although a limited number of full-length movies and television shows are already available on YouTube, the addition of premium content from major studios will significantly increase the site’s cache in the eyes of marketers, who have already begun to embrace competing sites such as Hulu.com. As well, although there will be no fee for the full-length videos immediately, Mr. Schmidt did not rule out the possibility of introducing a subscription or micro-payment system to YouTube at some point in the future in an effort to increase the site’s revenue.
So the conclusion I drew from this write up was that Google is a distributor of content.
I think that from the Toronto Globe and Mail’s vantage point, that’s what Google is—a throwback to the glory days of the big studios and the distribution systems those studios controlled. Hollywood makes movies. Google makes money on distribution.
Very tidy. Very narrow.
My research suggests that Google has capabilities that go well beyond the traditional Hollywood distribution model. Let me give one example which I describe in detail in my new monograph Google: The Digital Gutenberg. You can read the table of contents here. If you are more comfortable with Google as a search vendor, don’t click the link.
The GOOG has a matchmaking method, which it disclosed in one of the patent documents some folks insist are irrelevant to Google’s real business. I am not so sure. The method allows the Google to make it easy for a person looking for a creative type to locate one. Once found, the two can do a deal to create or deliver the service. Since the system exists within Google, the technology—if it is ever deployed—makes the Google into a producer. My reading of the claims opened my eyes to Googzilla wearing a Sam Goldwyn mask.
Sam Goldwyn about the time of the anti trust matter in the early 20th century
The Google has useful information about YouTube.com uploaders who attract a large following. The Google has useful information about individuals and organizations who create effective Google content. The Google has a great deal of information that creates the potential for disruption in a business that has been unchanged for many years.
Stephen Arnold, April 19, 2009
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