At the risk of joining the web-wide blogger circle-jerk, I will have to chime in after a two month blogging hiatus. It’s just too big of a new to pass up.
All the opinions are pretty much out there on TechMeme. Unsurprisingly, opinions range from “bubble 2.0″ to describing the brilliance of the move.
Either way, YouTube accomplished with video what Google has accomplished with “traditional” search. There are many examples of how culturally important it became — it was mentioned in the Oscars introduction ceremony, Jay Leno has a YouTube segment, etc etc. This is an important indicator, and Google knows — they went the same route themselves back in the day.
Because of this cultural significance, YouTube and YouTube alone has the leverage to solve the biggest media problem out there. Making copyright work for everyone, creating a value chain out of unbundled, redistributed and rebundled content, and making all that more efficient than what traditional TV has to offer.
Google is the best positioned to solve that problem given their experience on dMarc (radio), books, print ads, and obviously PPC ads, as well as their existing relationships with traditional media outfits. For instance, the Google/News Corp deal took a whole different meaning. YouTube, on their end, already have deals in place with Universal Music, CBS, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music.
It’s going to be great to see how this deal will spur the growth of online video in general. New opportunities, more reach in online video — and hopefully more attention to be drawn out of traditional media consumed via traditional channels. That means changing the way advertising is done with video.