IP Democracy: Google Video Will Morph Into Video Search Site

In a move that should surprise no one, Google unveiled at its official blog today a new strategy that integrates the company’s two high-profile video efforts — Google Video and YouTube. Ever since Google announced its acquisition of YouTube, Google Video, which was launched to a large degree as a rival to YouTube, has faced a very uncertain future.

But Google Video is such a snoozer as a place to post and retrieve videos, and, as far as I can tell, has made little headway in its effort to branch out into becoming a video “store.”

That’s why the new plan is to convert Google Video into a video search site while YouTube will continue as a hot destination for short-form online videos.

Google’s strength — and its history — is grounded in search and in innovating technologies to make more information more available and accessible. YouTube, meanwhile, excels at being a leading content destination with a dynamic community of users who create, watch and share videos worldwide.

This realignment of Google’s video properties makes a lot of sense. There is no point in trying to build up Google Video into a You Tube-esque site when you already own You Tube. On the other hand, scrapping Google Video seems a waste of resources and possibilities. Why not turn Google Video into a test-bed for video search?

Google is really coming up the video learning curve and is certainly willing to experiment. Earlier this week, Google announced (via its AdSense blog) a test with Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to group those companies’ video product with ads, offering publishers a way to publish the videos to their sites through a playlist of sorts.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 25, 2007 6:28 PM to IP Democracy