One the features that attracted some many visitors to YouTube was the ability to find almost anything on the site, regardless of whether the video had copyright protection or not. After spending $1.65 billion on YouTube, Google promised to tighten up the copyright issues and make the site more mainstream. From looking at the most viewed videos on YouTube for December it appears that Google is intent on turning Google into a commercial advertising and preview platform.
Eight of the top twenty most viewed videos on YouTube for December were from CBS, NBC or MGN Studios. The most video for the month with an amazing 7,714,856 views was the *Uncensored Version* Something special for your girlfriend this Christmas skit from SNL. Interestingly, this video was provided by NBC.
So what will 2007 bring for YouTube? I expect to see the continued “commercialization” of YouTube as Google brings it into the mainstream with arrangements with more studios and networks. The $1.65 billion question is whether users that have made YouTube one of the most visited sites on the Internet will continue to come to the site to watch movie trailers and outtakes commercials for TV shows.
My feeling is that YouTube will lose its cache as the video site that has everything and video content will get split amongst different sites. For example ComedyCentral.com is now home to the Daily Show and Colbert videos, while DisneyChannel.com is home to videos for that channel. The networks, cable channels and movie studies are all realizing that the more and more people want to watch video online and that they control these assets. I am not saying that YouTube will disappear in 2007, but I think that its importance will wane as the new year progresses.
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