Thursday, March 22, 2007
PC World: NBC, News Corp. Team Up for YouTube Rival
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 03:30 PM
"News Corp. and NBC Universal will challenge Google Inc.'s YouTube for online eyeballs and advertising dollars by launching a video-streaming Web site by the third quarter, News Corp. announced Thursday. Through a promotion deal with AOL LLC, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, MySpace and Yahoo Inc., the new site will reach 65 million viewers, accounting for 96 percent of U.S. unique online users on a monthly basis, the company said. To keep those viewers, NBC and News Corp. will offer free viewing of TV episodes by supporting the business with advertising by Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Cisco Systems Inc., Esurance Inc., Intel Corp. and General Motors Corp. The partners will also try to create an interactive Web community by inviting users to create personalized video playlists, mashups, online communities and a video-search function."
Will this work, or are they a couple of years too late? It's tough to say - the array of partners they have lined up is impressive - so they'll ready a lot of eyeballs - but does a corporate giant like NBC Universal really grasp what people are looking for today with online video? Here's a hint: it's not just the same warmed-over content they get on their TV set.
Will this work, or are they a couple of years too late? It's tough to say - the array of partners they have lined up is impressive - so they'll ready a lot of eyeballs - but does a corporate giant like NBC Universal really grasp what people are looking for today with online video? Here's a hint: it's not just the same warmed-over content they get on their TV set.
