YouTube's next step forward
By Spencer Kelly, Click presenter
We seem to be in the middle of a second dotcom boom. Web 2.0 sites, those whose content is created by millions of users, are all the rage. Wikipedia - the encyclopaedia, MySpace - the social networking site, Flickr - the photo-sharing site and the big name in video - YouTube.
Celebrated by fans of performing animals everywhere, and accused of everything from swamping the internet with traffic to threatening the future of broadcasting as we know it, YouTube still seems at the top of its game.
With more than half of YouTube's viewers now outside the US, it is time for the global phenomenon to go local. Earlier this month, co-founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley announced nine country-specific sites with more relevant content in their specific language.
YouTube has also done deals with professional organisations to show off their content too. But won't these deals affect YouTube's credibility as a community controlled site? "We're about all types of content on our site," said co-founder Chad Hurley. "I think what's made us different is that we weren't making those decisions about what's entertaining or popular with users; we really allowed our community to decide that. "The partnerships that we're putting in place are just providing more great content for the audience, and providing new opportunities for media companies to get in front of people, wherever they're spending time."
Co-founder Steve Chen believes a clip's popularity is defined by the entertainment value rather than production costs. "Even if you go to the YouTube site today and you browse to see the most viewed, popular, shared, interesting videos on the site, there's a great mixture of professionally produced content sitting right next to user-generated content."
Problems of copyright
"It's a new opportunity to distribute content," Mr Hurley added. "We've been fortunate enough to create a popular site, but we're not going to be the last."
They certainly will not. There are several other community video sites already operating, and already offering professional broadcasters added distribution opportunities. Formed two years before YouTube, Metacafe comes with an application which allows you to download full-quality video. And Veoh can distribute full-quality video using a peer-to-peer application, each clip being as long as 45 minutes.
But of course much as broadcasters can see these sites as a promotional tool, it is not always on their own terms. A lot of their content is uploaded without their permission. It has been said that the marketing guys love these sites, but the legal guys hate them. And let us face it - it is very easy to upload copyright protected material to any video site. Certainly copyright issues are taken very seriously, as Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube for a billion dollars proves.
"We've always had tools and we constantly keep adding layers of technology to deal with issues," explained Mr Hurley. "We recently announced audio and video fingerprinting, which we think will add a more effective way to identify what's on the system and control that."
Future challenges
With the world going mobile, any site which wants to be all-pervasive needs to go mobile too. YouTube's new mobile site went live in the middle of June and was supported by the iPhone straight out of the box.
"Mobile devices are such a fitting place to be able to consume this content," said Mr Chen. The short clips of 30 or 60 seconds are perfect when you're waiting for the bus or train, to be able to just flip open your mobile device and watch this content. "But there are obstacles, in that it's not something we can do independent of everyone else; it requires co-operation with mobile carriers and handset manufacturers to be cohesive, to co-operate to work through this."
So what of the future? In this era of high-def TV, will we see YouTube improving its picture quality to match the high standards we will expect if we are to watch it on our big screen TVs? You Tube's co-founders do not necessarily think so. "It's not necessarily about the quality of the video clip," explained Mr Chen, "but the quality of the content.
"We're always exploring new ways of improving the quality and improving the end-user experience. We're also very keen on preserving the accessibility of the site for people all around the world.”
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6277194.stm
By Spencer Kelly, Click presenter
We seem to be in the middle of a second dotcom boom. Web 2.0 sites, those whose content is created by millions of users, are all the rage. Wikipedia - the encyclopaedia, MySpace - the social networking site, Flickr - the photo-sharing site and the big name in video - YouTube.
Celebrated by fans of performing animals everywhere, and accused of everything from swamping the internet with traffic to threatening the future of broadcasting as we know it, YouTube still seems at the top of its game.
With more than half of YouTube's viewers now outside the US, it is time for the global phenomenon to go local. Earlier this month, co-founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley announced nine country-specific sites with more relevant content in their specific language.
YouTube has also done deals with professional organisations to show off their content too. But won't these deals affect YouTube's credibility as a community controlled site? "We're about all types of content on our site," said co-founder Chad Hurley. "I think what's made us different is that we weren't making those decisions about what's entertaining or popular with users; we really allowed our community to decide that. "The partnerships that we're putting in place are just providing more great content for the audience, and providing new opportunities for media companies to get in front of people, wherever they're spending time."
Co-founder Steve Chen believes a clip's popularity is defined by the entertainment value rather than production costs. "Even if you go to the YouTube site today and you browse to see the most viewed, popular, shared, interesting videos on the site, there's a great mixture of professionally produced content sitting right next to user-generated content."
Problems of copyright
"It's a new opportunity to distribute content," Mr Hurley added. "We've been fortunate enough to create a popular site, but we're not going to be the last."
They certainly will not. There are several other community video sites already operating, and already offering professional broadcasters added distribution opportunities. Formed two years before YouTube, Metacafe comes with an application which allows you to download full-quality video. And Veoh can distribute full-quality video using a peer-to-peer application, each clip being as long as 45 minutes.
But of course much as broadcasters can see these sites as a promotional tool, it is not always on their own terms. A lot of their content is uploaded without their permission. It has been said that the marketing guys love these sites, but the legal guys hate them. And let us face it - it is very easy to upload copyright protected material to any video site. Certainly copyright issues are taken very seriously, as Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube for a billion dollars proves.
"We've always had tools and we constantly keep adding layers of technology to deal with issues," explained Mr Hurley. "We recently announced audio and video fingerprinting, which we think will add a more effective way to identify what's on the system and control that."
Future challenges
With the world going mobile, any site which wants to be all-pervasive needs to go mobile too. YouTube's new mobile site went live in the middle of June and was supported by the iPhone straight out of the box.
"Mobile devices are such a fitting place to be able to consume this content," said Mr Chen. The short clips of 30 or 60 seconds are perfect when you're waiting for the bus or train, to be able to just flip open your mobile device and watch this content. "But there are obstacles, in that it's not something we can do independent of everyone else; it requires co-operation with mobile carriers and handset manufacturers to be cohesive, to co-operate to work through this."
So what of the future? In this era of high-def TV, will we see YouTube improving its picture quality to match the high standards we will expect if we are to watch it on our big screen TVs? You Tube's co-founders do not necessarily think so. "It's not necessarily about the quality of the video clip," explained Mr Chen, "but the quality of the content.
"We're always exploring new ways of improving the quality and improving the end-user experience. We're also very keen on preserving the accessibility of the site for people all around the world.”
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6277194.stm
Web powered by Fotovacaciones.com
No comments:
Post a Comment