Written by Om Malik
Posted Friday, August 3, 2007 at 12:30 AM PT

 

Watch Out YouTube, Yahoo Is Coming

Yahoo’s declaration this week that it is going to take on YouTube might sound like a great soundbite, but the reality of Yahoo (or for that matter anyone) catching up with THE YouTube is going to be a tough task. In May 2007, Yahoo had 4.6 percent of the total online video streams, in comparison with YouTube’s 21.5 percent of the total market, with 1.7 billion of Google’s 1.8 billion total streams coming from YouTube, according to comScore.

Yahoo wants to use music videos, movie trailers, and other content to build an attractive destination site, Mike Folgner, Yahoo’s general manager for video told Bloomberg.

One of our strategies is to put video everywhere you are on the Internet … We’re going to build a much better destination for you to access all this different content.

Easier said than done. Why do I say that? Look at YouTube’s history: it became popular because from the very beginning it didn’t try to be a destination, using viral distribution to get traction. Even today, people’s perception of YouTube is that it is not a destination. So far, video destination sites have not been a success.

Look at it another way, Google tried to compete with YouTube with a strategy similar to Yahoo’s plan. It didn’t work, and they had to buy YouTube.

Folgner boasted that Yahoo has deals with all sorts of music labels (some of them also do business with YouTube) and now they will bring them to one site. Sure, but people who like to watch video are on the other site.

The popular social photo-sharing site Flickr, is going to add video, he said. We have heard this before, and even if it is true, I am not sure that is a good idea, because Flickr works because of its elegance and special focus on digital photos.

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Topic: Money & Power, Online Video
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. [...] the end of ‘07, which will offer music videos, movie trailers and sports stuff. But over at NewTeeVee, Om Malik has his doubts that the strategy will work… Easier said than done. Why do I say [...]

    Yahoo to take down YouTube « The Content Factory on August 3rd, 2007 at 3:07 am - Permalink

  2. Yahoo is becoming an internet media pacman. Go You tube, fight the good fight.

    whorod on August 3rd, 2007 at 6:31 pm - Permalink

  3. Om,

    Any news on whether they will put any user generated content on the site? How will they compete with Youtube on that?

    Da Godfather on August 5th, 2007 at 8:18 am - Permalink

  4. Hey,

    It is not clear what their plans are for user generated content, but i am guessing they are going to use Flickr to make that work. I am still not convinced they have a chance, but then, stranger things have happened.

    Om Malik on August 5th, 2007 at 8:50 am - Permalink

  5. Thanks Om.

    A hush hush silicon valley play called tellytopia is doing something in that space with cable TV. I saw them at a cable show last month. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yahoo were using them – that’d give Yahoo a big move up over Youtube.

    Da Godfather on August 6th, 2007 at 12:19 am - Permalink

  6. [...] having 4.6%, of online video streams, recently stated that they are going to take on YouTube. See this NewTeeVee article for more details. Yahoo actually owns one of the most popular online photo [...]

    YouTube’s Newest Competition on August 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] the end of ‘07, which will offer music videos, movie trailers and sports stuff. But over at NewTeeVee, Om Malik has his doubts that the strategy will work… Easier said than done. Why do I say [...]

    The Content Factory » Blog Archive » Yahoo to take down YouTube on September 25th, 2007 at 3:42 pm - Permalink

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