To add insult to injury, YouTube not only lost a potential relationship with Viacom (VIA) to peer-to-peer video company Joost, CBS (CBS) has also left the negotiating table. After intense negotiations, a deal to put CBS programs on the video-sharing site fell apart on issues like the length of the contract. What CBS will do to boost its onlne presence is still a mystery, but YouTube is not likely to be part of the equation.
Large media companies continue to be concerned about pirated copies of their content being posted on YouTube, and some are pushing to have that content taken off the huge Google-owned (GOOG) video site.
What does that leave YouTube? A great deal actually. The website still had roughly 30 million unique visitors in January according to Comscore. That makes it one of the most visited web destinations in the world. The content at YouTube is primarily user generated and not pirated clips.
YouTube’s best bet now may be to show large media companies that it can make money without them by putting video advertising and other marketing programs onto the website. While companies including NBC Universal (GE) and Viacom (VIA) have talked about creating their own YouTube competitor, amassing million of unique visitors could be nearly impossible.
If YouTube takes advantage of its original user-created content model, Big Media may have to reconsider using other outlets to move content onto the web. YouTube just has to show it can still grow and that it does not need old media to do it
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks