Google Hiring Shows Video Key to Growth

The $1.6 billion buyout of YouTube was a good indicator that Google, the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant had serious designs on the online video business. Its recent moves, including a partnership with Apple, are signs that it will keep investing. More anecdotal proof that the $10 billion-a-year company is betting the farm on video, take a quick look at their job listings.

At present Google has about 2,800 open positions right now, and a large percentage is related to video. There are numerous postings for online video ads, video content analysis/search, and TV initiatives. The television-related positions show the company is beginning to look at convergence very seriously. Television-related positions are based in London.

“Google is looking for highly intelligent, enthusiastic Technical Leads/Managers (TLMs) to build Google’s Television Technology team in London to help us make the world’s information universally accessible and useful through TV,” says one advertisement for software engineer.

Yahoo is no slouch either, and has been aggressively hiring video related personnel, according to UBS analyst Ben Schachter, who recently published a report analyzing the hiring trends at the two Internet giants.

“Both companies are hiring aggressively for positions related to all aspects of video, online and on television. While we expect 2007 to be a building year for video efforts, we think that both companies may make significant strides toward developing meaningful revenue streams from video, online and offline, in 2008 and beyond,” writes Schachter.