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The final programme in the series focuses on You Tube, now one of the most visited sites on the web. Online advertising revenues which support this site are currently exploding with14 billion dollars spent annually in the US alone, a figure rising by 14% a year.
Over 100 million clips are viewed daily on You Tube by the sites 20 million monthly visitors who upload, view and share clips. Each clip can be viewed and rated by the You Tube community
The site was established in 2005 by three former employees of Paypal. The meteoric rise of the business over the past two years climaxed with its sale to Google for $1.65 billion late in 2006. Indeed the site was named Time Magazines ‘Invention of the year’. Having said all of that, despite a relatively golden two years, You Tube still faces problems with users uploading clips to the site without the necessary permission to do so.
You Tube has, in certain situations struck content agreements with copyright owners including CBS and Universal Music, and is on constant patrol to remove illegal material, but the size and breadth of the site, whilst being one of its great assets, is also its biggest challenge in this respect. So, interesting questions remain.
- How will the big content holders balance the free promotion their content receives on You Tube with the fact that it’s being ‘exploited for nothing’?
- How will You Tube affect user viewing patterns in the long term?
- Where does all this leave its original creators?
We hear from the founders regarding the strategic partnership deals that have been struck, how they are going to help the site grow stronger and what direction the business is likely to take moving forward. We also talk to a diverse range of contributors about their varied experiences using You Tube.
Send us your comments
- What big ideas do you wish you'd thought of?
- Which video sharing sites have you used?
- Do you ever post your own video clips on YouTube or similar sites?
- What is your favourite online video clip (and why?)
- Have these sites changed your media consumption - and if so how?
- What do you think the future holds for video sharing sites?
Send us your comments now - and we may publish some of your contributions on this page.
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