Google TV Steps It Up as Online Video Market Explodes
Arguably, one of the busiest segments of the digital world today is online video. After surviving the record-breaking streaming numbers during the Royal Wedding, the death of Osama bin Laden arrived while the dust of the former’s event was just settling. Demands such as these are pushing agencies to shift big dollars to online video ads from TV. Now, the competition has been ignited by recent developments around this sphere, with players like YouTube, Amazon, Apple, HBO and Netflix banging each other’s head, left and right.
The Google versus Apple saga escalates to the video domain. Google’s pride was obviously hurt when Apple snatched away the “world’s favorite tech brand” title away from them, cutting their 4-year streak. The search engine giant fights back and join the music crowd, challenging iTunes. Not only that, its premier online video streaming arm YouTube has closed several film deals and now brings Hollywood blockbuster flicks to its movie rental service.
This movie rental move is a step closer to Google’s quest into full-length TV shows and movies. Today, Youtube has more than 3,000 movies to choose from, with Oscar-winning “King’s Speech” recently added. This strategy is making a clear statement to their competitors like NetFlix and Amazon.
In a blog, Camille Hearst and Matt Darby, YouTube’s Product Marketing Manager and Product Manager respectively, cracked the news to the public saying: “Today, we’re announcing another step in our goal to bring more of the video you love to YouTube: the addition of thousands of full-length feature films from major Hollywood studios available to rent in the US at youtube.com/movies.” However, not everyone is very receptive to these “entertainment” concepts of Google. Disney, Fox and Paramount are hesitant to sign off the deal in the fear of video piracy.
Another winner this week is HBO that garnered 1 million downloads on iOS and Android. This new app called HBO Go will grant subscribers access to its content anytime, anywhere. This could potentially boost media business. Amazon also received good bulletins recently when they beat NetFlix at the recent online retail satisfaction survey.
All of these lead to a relevant idea—that at the internet age, entertainment made accessible from anywhere will be a runaway success.
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