Since paying $1.65 billion for YouTube three years ago, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has made progress. No doubt, the site is a dominant player in video -- especially for user-generated content. And Google is enhancing the platform, such as with better ad formats, as well as distribution partnerships with companies like Disney (NYSE: DIS).

However, investors want to know when the site will start to make profits.

Continue reading YouTube wants everyone to make money

YouTube wants everyone to make money originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading NBC/News Corp.'s Hulu becomes third-largest video website in March

NBC/News Corp.'s Hulu becomes third-largest video website in March originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's no secret that cable service providers are anxious about the rapid growth of free video on the internet -- and rightly so. The same shows that run on the networks with multiple commercials on Friday night are available the next day on the internet with minimal interruptions.

Therefore, the rumor that the internet video content site Joost.com has attracted the attention of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) seems logical.

Continue reading Time Warner Cable/Joost hookup in the works?

Time Warner Cable/Joost hookup in the works? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to an AP article citing data from comScore Inc., people are still in love with the internet. In fact, they love to watch videos on the internet. Furthermore, views of videos online experienced an ecstatic rate of growth in February -- they shot up 66% compared to the year-ago period. Incredible, right? And if you're a media company, you love the data, right?

Well, if you're Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), you love it. If you're a Disney (NYSE: DIS) or a General Electric (NYSE: GE), you would be of two minds about it. For you see, while people are watching videos, oftentimes they are doing it on a platform like Google's YouTube -- they aren't necessarily watching them at ABC.com. The data show that YouTube increased its video views by 15% in February 2008 versus February 2007, and that it captured one-third of the 10 billion video views that occurred in February of this year. Amazing. But sites like ABC.com captured much, much less of those views -- that site, in fact, had a measly 1% share of the pie.

Major content players want surfing eyeballs to come to their sites so they can monetize their online libraries via methods of their own making. Media companies, simply put, still haven't figured out how to adapt to this new electronic entertainment economy, and they still haven't come to terms with YouTube. In an era of social networking and clip sharing, users love to copy content and upload it to sites like YouTube that are very easy and friendly to engage, thus bypassing the owners of such content. How does one fight this?

Continue reading Content providers like Disney still have to worry about YouTube, numbers show

Content providers like Disney still have to worry about YouTube, numbers show originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

All of this premium content will be wrapped into a video site, Hulu, and be offered through distribution partners including Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) MSN, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and MySpace. The issue of whether the content will be available on Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube is still open for negotiation.

The new venture appears to be a perfect example of large companies managing a problem to death. It is not clear why Fox and NBC could not have cut their own content distribution deals without having to band together. It is equally unclear why anyone would go to the Hulu site if the content can be seen at larger web properties

Perhaps some of the online media executives at the two networks wanted to make sure that it appeared they were making progress on getting their programming onto the web. It might be a good way to keep a job, at least for now.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Fox and NBC launch odd website Hulu originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.