When Viacom pulled the plug on YouTube, it seemed like a pretty big deal. With big name shows pulled from the video selection list, some people speculated that YouTube would lose a lot of their traffic. The Colbert Report, and the Daily Show fans definitely weren’t happy about the removal of their favorite shows.
Taking a look at Alexa ratings (as always ,take it for what it’s worth), YouTube traffic has been steady, even after Viacom forced the removal of content. It hasn’t affected them quite like people assumed it would.
Further, while YouTube was forced to remove 100,000 clips from their website that belonged to Viacom, in actuality, according to vidmeter.com, Viacom videos were only 2% of YouTube videos. Further, videos that have been pulled from “Big Media” sources made up only 6% of total views.
A new study shows that YouTube relies much more on the non-copyrighted material than they do material from big media. I for one didn’t realize just how important the non-copyrighted material was in the big scheme of things.
Perhaps YouTube doesn’t need to negotiate deals with big media for their content? If they don’t rely on that content to maintain their audience, is there a need to pursue it?
Source: The New York Times – Thanks for the tip Curtiss!
There are always those videos which everyone likes and which I find myself watching again and again, like [youtube.com]!
Seriously, though, only about half of my YouTube watching was copyrighted material, so while I’m not watching YouTube as much, I’m still watching.
Removing any content will definitely weaken the service.
Sometimes I wish the big media guns would lighten up for the good of a particular service.
I think all of the big media just thinks that “if we let one site do it we have to let all of them” which they probably believe will jeopardize their viewers. In reality it would just increase the number of people who are interested in the show.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ryan. I also see Joost or Vuse and YouTube as a great combination for distribution. Joost/Vuse is excellent for those who want to watch high-quality content, while YouTube is perfect for those who just want quick and easy access without the hassle of installing something. Also, YouTube has established branding and a large following, so the rate of success is high there.