February 12th, 2009
Did YouTube just find some monetization help?
YouTube will allow users to watch videos offline and even buy downloads for a small fee.
Can you smell the monetization, which is YouTube’s biggest priority?
Many video creators on YouTube want their work to be seen far and wide. They don’t mind sharing their work, provided that they get the proper credit. Using Creative Commons licenses, we’re giving our partners and community more choices to make that happen. Creative Commons licenses permit people to reuse downloaded content under certain conditions.
We’re also testing an option that gives video owners the ability to permit downloading of their videos from YouTube. Partners could choose to offer their video downloads for free or for a small fee paid through Google Checkout. Partners can set prices and decide which license they want to attach to the downloaded video files (for more info on the types of licenses, take a look here).
YouTube also said that it has added a “My Purchases” tab.
Now we’re not talking iTunes here and it’s unclear whether folks will seriously buy many videos. But the potential is there. Advertising will still be YouTube’s primary revenue model, but selling a few videos is a nice addition. In addition partners are likely to sign up just because of YouTube’s scale.
Download: YouTube’s video ID system: Is 75 percent accuracy good enough? Video ID system cost benefit and revenue calculators.
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Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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