Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is dominating online video just like it does internet searches. In August, Google's various video properties went past the 10 billion video view March. In all, the Mountain View, Calif., company took in 40% of all online video viewership, according to comScore.
Of course, the answer to Google's fortunes in online video viewership was YouTube. Google Video didn't account for much at all, as YouTube accounted for 99% of all video viewed on Google's video properties. The only problem: Google continues to not monetize YouTube very well, which has been a point of contention since the 2006 acquisition for $1.65 billion. The good news: YouTube has grown like gangbusters at the same time, and the YouTube acquisition has kept Google at the top of the video viewing field ever since.
Following in second place was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), which saw 547 million video viewers in August. That's a pretty distant second, yes? August, though, was an all-time high for online video viewers, at about 25 billion. With that many viewers tapping into videos, the abject failure of the industry to capitalize on that is staggering. In fact, it's hard to see how monetization will happen any time soon.
Customers are now accustomed to no advertisements, or minimal advertisements when viewing online video. The "pre-roll" ad that plays before a requested video has been the advertising format of choice so far, and most likely this will continue. Other than that, video advertising hasn't really made headway.
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
Deere up on Q4 earnings performance
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
Add your comments