Great article in the NYT about Viacom's stand-offish approach to YouTube and other new media aggregators.
NYT: The Old Guard Flexes Its Muscles (While It Still Can)
Viacom's resistance to partnering with Google and YouTube is notable in the face of the willingness of other old media companies to realize that if they can't beat them, they should join them.
Personally, I favor the motive laid out by NYT's Richard Siklos: they're playing hard to get.
It is hard not to conclude that the media establishment’s threats to start its own rival to YouTube — as well as Viacom’s yanking of its popular clips from the site — amount to posturing. What it might really be about is securing a lucrative deal from Google that would end hostilities in exchange for guaranteed cash and a healthy split of revenue from any advertising the company derives from their video content.
At this point, it doesn't make much sense to talk about starting your own web page. Sure, there are other video sharing sites, but who can name any that aren't YouTube?
Monday, February 19, 2007
Viacom: do they get it or not?
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