One of the messages out of the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) shareholder meeting was that management plans to make more money on huge video-sharing site YouTube. Without going into detail, the search company said it would bring out sets of software tools which would make it easier for marketers to use the site more effectively.
According to Reuters, Eric Schmidt, the company's CEO "said getting the video sharing site to make money is the Web search company's top priority for the year." It is a nice promise, but it is hard to see how it will work.
Unlike new video sites including Hulu, a premium content web destination used by the large media companies to showcase their video, most of the YouTube content is posted by the ordinary citizen. The clips are primarily short and of poor quality. For some time, one of the most popular videos on YouTube was "The Farting Preacher." That may not be the kind of content big marketers find appropriate to use to draw new customers.
YouTube's problem is not its size. It is the largest video site in the world, based on visitors. But, it is also a website based on a community of people who see its as a place to homestead with the own content. Advertisers may never be comfortable with that.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and the author of the Ten Stocks Over $10 letter.
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