Did Google screw up buying Youtube???
A few years ago, when Google announced it was purchasing Youtube for 1.65 billions, it almost seemed like a bargain. Sure, the high growth website had lingering issues with copyrights and wasn’t able to turn a back of profit, but it was getting so many eyeballs and with Google’s talent for turning eyeballs in cash, it seemed like the perfect match. And in a way, it started off that way as Google did start showing signs of progress through deals for copyrights, and started saying publicly it had plans to turn the site into profit. And even with no profit, the high growth was justification enough for the purchase.
But fast forward to 2009 and suddenly, it is not as clear if Youtube was a bargain or if it was worth the energy. Youtube is the undeniable leader but with competitions such as Hulu.com and TV.com, the model of showing lower quality user powered content is not as clear. While advertisers are lining up to display ads on Hulu and TV, Youtube is having problems as it is not able to guarantee if the video shown next to the ad will be legal and will be something a brand would want to be associated with.
While no one truly expects Google to give up and might come out on top with this idea, it is still interesting to see blogs talking about Google spinning off Youtube and other ideas that give a clear idea about the poor success the internet giant has had with Youtube.
While we do remain optimistic about Google and about its future, it is not quite clear how video fits in to its future. As we have written in the past, Google is gaining a spot of choice in the population’s life, especially through its wireless strategy with Androit, Google maps, etc. But video??? Hulu shows high quality content similar to what you would see on tv. And because the content is generated by network members of Hulu, they are able to organize it in an optimal manner for users to browse through. Unfortunately, serching through Youtube can sometimes become a rather difficult experience…
It will be interesting to see how Google will be able to fit Youtube in its future and its plans for Google’s expansion, as of right now, I’m a bit confused, am I the only one?
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