Page 331 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

10 | Onl ne D g tal F lm and Telev s on

youtuBe
From 2005 to 2007, YouTube has become the most extensively used video sharing Web site
for users to become both online media creators and consumers. YouTube’s service is a Web
site where visitors can upload and share their own digital video clips as well as watch others’
contributions.
The company was founded and developed in 2005 in Menlo Park, California, by three
friends who also found investments from a venture capital firm. In just over a year, YouTube’s
success made it a hot commodity that was eventually fetched by Internet search engine and
advertising company, Google Inc., for $1.65 billion in Google’s stock. The site’s success can
be attributed to various reasons such as the spreading availability of broadband by 2005, the
founders’ astute understanding of the emerging market of sites such as MySpace, and the
existing penetration of Macromedia’s Flash Player 7 in PCs.
It is YouTube’s policy to forbid uploaded content that constitutes copyright infringe-
ment, but in practice this is not stringently policed. By late 2006 and into 2007, the com-
pany had taken measures to survey more closely and prohibit piracy. Once put into full
effect, it remains to be seen how much this will influence traffic to the site, since a good
portion of viewers visit the site to share user-recorded selections. Other than copyrighted
materials, YouTube prohibits other content such as pornography or the glamorization of
criminal conduct.

of the fact that there is a significant consumer base for low-grade media distri-
bution given the wide popularity of Flash Player for online video and the relative
success of portable media devices such as DVD players and video iPods. As of
the publication of this entry, the gap between the TV set and computer monitor
is nearly closed as LCD monitors and flat-panel television sets are designed to
perform similar or the same functions. Cable providers work to control the
broadband Internet market as well as offer Internet access through the cable
TV user interface. Computer and operating system manufacturers are offering
home theater or media PCs that come ready with TV tuner cards, personal video
recorder (PVR) software, DVD drives, and remote controls. As a result, viewers
often use one screen for many of the same purposes, such as browsing the Inter-
net with their computers, watching DVDs off of a DVD player or a DVD drive
on their computers, and watching streaming media through their browsers or
through digital cable.

in-homE anD on-DEmanD viDEo

One quality of online video that differentiates it from television (both broad-
cast and general cable) is its availability at all times and in almost all locations.
Viewers with broadband Internet access can visit a site such as YouTube and
watch TV episodes when they want and as many times as they want. With the