Cumquats

Google is a company we all know and use day in and day out. From search to mail to ads, a internet without Google would not be the same. But while Google has grown from a small search engine to one of the largest company in the Web 2.0 world in just a few years, the rapid growth of Google might be there biggest weakness. If one starts looking at all of Google products it does not take long to notice how split the company is. And since Google is such a big company there is lots to talk about, but today I am going to focus on one part of the mighty Google empire, YouTube.


YouTube is a company Google bought in 2006. And since then the Google/YouTube team have steadily improved the technology side of the offering. Higher resolution and integration in many devices to name a few. They have also started to run ads on videos to offset the cost. As Google is a ad company this is the natural solution. However, this is not the way to continue improve the service. I think Google is missing a business opportunity here that WILL be very important in the future.


What YouTube needs is not ads, but commercial videos. They need to go head to head with services like Netflix and Hulu. Both of these companies have not nailed the business of on-demand yet, and Google have a big opportunity here. Google certainly have all the resources that they need.


Think about it! Everyone and there mother is on YouTube almost every day. YouTube is on many phones and more and more on the TV. So availability is already high. So next time you want to watch a movie or the latest episode of your favorite series, would it not be nice to just start your AppleTV and start streaming it from YouTube, then continue to watch it on the buss on your iPhone?


I'm not saying this would be a free service. I would gladly pay for that sort of content, as long as it is ad free. I probably would prefer it to everything else. 


So what is Netflix and Hulu doing wrong? Netflix for starter is on the right path and will eventually be a part of this business. But today Netflix is stuck one an old business model, requiring an DVD rental account. Hulu is only available on the web and goes to great lengths to keep from being used in the living-room. This is also to protect old business models, and since Hulu is runned by old companies, I have a hard time seeing Hulu being a part of this business in the future. 


The biggest problem today however that all services is suffering of is something people living outside the United States is very aware of. Today all media is available on a country to country basis. I can not for the life of me see how the industry is thinking here. Do you not want my money? 


This is were I see YouTube have a advantage. YouTube is already global and if they can convince the industry, this could be a great advantage.


Could Google pull this off? It is not an easy thing to do but if anyone is going to do it it would be Google. But looking at the what Google is doing today, the chance that Google can focus on one thing for more than 15 minutes is slim at best. Which is sad, considering how painfully obvious this move is.