According to today's U.K. Guardian, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been meeting with American Idol guru Simon Fuller about partnering on an internet project that he says is a "big idea on a global scale." While no details were disclosed, Fuller compared the impact of the project to that of iTunes on the music industry.
My first thought was that Google was going into original programming, for which Fuller has been a cash machine. However, a couple of shows, even if very successful, do not the foundations of entertainment shake. Google has also crapped out on a pay-per-view models, and I'd be surprised if that resurfaced. With its purchase of YouTube, though, it owns the mother of all footprints in online video.
As a WAG, perhaps the plan might be more along these lines: A producer creates a show, partners with Google to market it for internet delivery. The show is delivered with advertising content via the Google/YouTube network. For each viewing, advertisers pay a fixed rate, and Google divvies up the ad revenue with the producer. In essence, Google replaces the television network's role, using its ubiquitousness to market content to those it identifies as the most likely to view.
Any plans coming from the Google/Simon confab need to be taken seriously. They are, after all, two American Idols.
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