Monday, August 13, 2007

Google Gives Up on Selling Videos

Google is conceding to the reality that people won't pay to watch old TV episodes online and will no longer sell content on its video site, according to MediaPost.

The question for media companies is how much content are they willing to provide for free in order to advance their brand. Mass media success is about developing a relationship with viewers/readers over time so that they perceive the value and differentiation of your offering and want to keep coming back for more.

When there is an unlimited choice of free competition, this means embracing your audience, and as I've said since the networks first put their content online, they should use ads to generate revenue.

A very small percentage of people will pay for content on mobile devices, but watching reruns online must be free.

Cable TV channels are under increasing pressure to find an audience, so they should give up charging the cable providers for carrying their service and go to an ad revenue share. I hear there are lots of great shows on FX and MSNBC, but since they aren't part of my basic cable package, I don't see them.

By John Gartner at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)

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