Google Answers The Google Video Question

from the youtube-wins dept

Since Google announced its acquisition of YouTube last October, there have been questions about the fate of its own site, Google Video, and how it would either complement or conflict with its much sexier rival-turned-ally. Today, the company gave its first indication of what it has planned going forward. The company realizes it doesn't make much sense to continue to bifurcate its video offerings, and because YouTube is currently the runaway leader in the space, all of the company's videos will basically be hosted and distributed through that site. But it's not going to mothball Google Video. Instead, the site will basically become a video search engine that will help users find videos all over the internet. This seems like an elegant solution. Video search is a natural offering for the company, and it's smart of the company to realize there's more to online video than just what's hosted at YouTube. Some companies, after shelling out $1.6 billion and change for an acquisition might be tempted to milk it for all its worth, and corral users onto just that site, but the company has always recognized there's a lot of money to be made in getting people off its site.
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  1. identicon
    Jo Mamma, 25 Jan 2007 @ 9:08am

    I agree

    Good move.

    Also, I personally like Google Video much better than YouTube. I can actually find useful stuff on Google Video, YouTube is basically just all crap.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Jan 2007 @ 10:00am

    Crap?

    search Charlie on youtube and watch the first result. That my friend is not crap.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    billy, 25 Jan 2007 @ 10:11am

    agreed

    what the momma said

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Tora1188, 25 Jan 2007 @ 10:12am

    Re: I agree

    But now, maybe Youtube will finally post some useful stuff, with the addition of GV content. Heres hoping they take tags off those Google keynote speeches. i hated that they seemed to be tagged as *EVERYTHING* and wouold show up in almost any search.

    Note to google, if anyone is listening: Sometimes a simple "No Results" message is more welcome than a boatload of videos that have no relation to my search

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Odyssey, 25 Jan 2007 @ 10:37am

    Google rules

    I have to say this.. Google Rules the Internet Space.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Buzz, 25 Jan 2007 @ 10:44am

    smart move

    That makes sense for Google. This will make Google Video more in line with the Google Image Search function. That way, YouTube can continue to do what it does best. I agree that Google Video is better than YouTube in a lot of ways, but Google will find a good solution. I have a feeling YouTube will make some turns for the better here in the near future. It'll be exciting! :D

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Jimbo, 25 Jan 2007 @ 11:09am

    Good move by Google...

    but unfortunatley i have always liked google video better for finding good vids.

    Echo sentiments above. YouTube has a bunch of crap.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Jan 2007 @ 11:29am

    Hmm, this explains why when I was seeing anime episodes on google video's main page (pretty sure these videos are rejected by google's upload process since they manually approve each video) and when trying a search on video.google.com all the links pointed to youtube.

    Too bad Comcast's crappy DNS is broken right now and thinks youtube dosent exsist >.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Some Dude, 25 Jan 2007 @ 11:34am

    Sweet

    This should make finding free porn vids easier :)

    Ok so I am kinda kidding (but not really). It'll be a good move on Google's part.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Danno, 26 Jan 2007 @ 12:05am

    Does this mean YouTube is going to add download links for iPod versions of their videos and/or integration with the Client Side Google Video player (which I actually think is a pretty swell little application).

    link to this | view in thread ]


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