MySpaceTV Allows Direct Uploads, Crack Out The Web Cam

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

MySpaceTV Nemo Video

I’m not sure that this is quite the news we’ve been waiting for but News Corp, owners of MySpace, have announced that users on MySpaceTV can now directly upload their videos, or rather upload a video of themselves in front of the web cam, by hitting a record button. It’s as simple as going to the ‘Upload a Video’ link, fill out the video description and then hit ‘Record a Video.’ The world will now be a better place.

Google Struggling With YouTube Advertising

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
YouTube

In an article in the Wall Street Journal today [subscription req.] a report says that YouTube will will fall short of revenue expectations. The twist to this chatter is that Google has found that 80% to 90% of video watchers hate to watch pre-roll advertising and they leave the video the minute they see any hint of a pre-roll. The story goes that Google intends to ignore its own research and go ahead with pre-roll anyway.

And the reason that most pages on YouTube are ad free? Because Google is fearful of showing that it is profiting from copyright infringement. They already in the middle of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Viacom. That apparently leaves Google with only 4% of the videos being legally a-ok to advertise around as they have been approved by the copyright owners.

Bottom line for Google and the lawsuit they face, is that it is very unlikely they will receive a ruling in their favor to make money from copyright-violating content. It also will be a barrier to entry for anyone trying to launch a social media advertising program around these big content sites. Even Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation doesn’t own the copyright to hundreds of thousands of songs on its MySpace site.