PROJECT REPORT ON

A STUDY ON INTERNET SHARING SITE
YOUTUBE.COM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTERNET -The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.

COMMON USES OF THE INTERNET - Email, Remote access, Collaboration, File sharing, Streaming media, Voice telephony, Leisure, and Marketing.

VIDEOS SHARING SITES - Video sharing refers to websites or software where a user can distribute their video clips. Some services may charge, but the bulk of them offer free services. Many services have options for private sharing and other publication options.

YOUTUBE.COM – Founded in February 2005, YouTube is the leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.

FACTS ABOUT YOUTUBE –
Founded in February of 2005 by three former employees of eBay's PayPal unit.
In July, more than 30 million people visited the site and those users watched more than 100 million vides a day.
Youtube , which is home to 25 million videos and streams 15 million of them each day

TO THE MEDIA, YOUTUBE IS A THREAT AND A TOOL - Media companies are of two minds about Internet video-sharing site YouTube, which rocketed to fame by letting users share homemade videos along with copyrighted clips from movies, TV shows and music videos.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS – ➢ Lack of a viable storage platform ➢ Mediocre watching experience ➢ Fragmented viewing experience ➢ Distribution of popular content (often copyrighted) drove adoption ➢ Viral customer growth due to widget marketing ➢ Chose the right technology platform for the desired user experience

GOOGLE ACQUIRE YOUTUBE -YouTube is where you go to watch a video that makes you laugh. It's where fans catch their favorite star's latest TV talk show appearance or where amateurs post their videos of everyday life, such as catching mom unaware beach go-ers are amused by her singing. Google is said to be willing to pay $1.6 billion for YouTube.

LG PHONE AND YOUTUBE COMING TOGETHER – Korean giant brand LG Electronics announced to the world of their partnership with Google their plan to develop YouTube optimised mobile phones. These youTube phones can have features such as letting users ready to shoot, view and upload videos directly to their youTube accounts easily.

YOUTUBE AND APPLE -With everyone focused on the incredibly expensive acquisition of YouTube by Google, attention once again drifted away from the Apple connection to Google and what may be the big long term plan jointly being executed by both companies.

VODAFONE IN DEAL TO CARRY YOUTUBE CLIPS - The mobile operator's tie-up is latest in a string of deals to bring internet brands to mobile handsets Vodafone has announced a tie-up with YouTube, the video-sharing site owned by Google, in the latest in a string of deals to bring the web’s biggest brands to mobile handsets.

CONCLUSION - YouTube is a fast growing website which will continue to let users upload and watch videos online for free.

INDEX
|SR, NO. |TOPIC |PG NO. |
|I |INTERNET |9-21 |
|1. |WHAT IS INTERNET? |10 |
|2 |COMMON USES |11 |
|3 |BASIC TERMS |14 |
|4 |RECENT FACTS |16 |
|5 |INTERNET BUSINESS |18 |
|II |VIDEO SHARING SITE |22-32 |
|1. |WHAT IS VIDEO SHARING SITES? |23 |
|2 |HISTORY |27 |
|3 |BENEFITS |28 |
|4 |ADAVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES |30 |
|5 |FUTURE DEVELOPMENT |31 |
|III |WWW.YOUTUBE.COM |33-65 |
|1. |ABOUT YOUTUBE |34 |
|2 |FACTS |38 |
|3 |INFO |39 |
|4 |TERMS OF SERVICES |42 |
|5 |USES |44 |
|6 |HISTORY |45 |
|7 |SUCCESS FACTOR |48 |
|8 |TO THE MEDIA |51 |
|9 |COPYRIGHT |54 |
|10 |GOOGLE ACQUIRE YOUTUBE |58 |
|11 |LG AND YOUTUBE |62 |
|12 |APPLE AND YOUTUBE |64 |
|13 |VODAFONE AND YOUTUBE |66 |
|14 |YOUTUBE PR : US CAMPAIGN 2008 |67 |
|15 |COMPARISON OF YOUTUBE |71 |
|IV |CONCLUSION |74 |
|V |ANNEXURE |75 |
|VI |BIBLIORAPHY |77 |

CHAPTER I
INTERNET

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WHAT IS INTERNET
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANET. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.
Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.
For many Internet users, electronic mail (e-mail) has practically replaced the Postal Service for short written transactions. Electronic mail is the most widely used application on the Net. You can also carry on live "conversations" with other computer users, using Internet Relay Chat (IRC). More recently, Internet telephony hardware and software allows real-time voice conversations.
The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"). Its outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing.

COMMON USES OF THE INTERNET
E-mail
The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties in a way analogous to mailing letters or memos predates the creation of the Internet

Remote access
The Internet allows computer users to connect to other computers and information stores easily, wherever they may be across the world. They may do this with or without the use of security, authentication and encryption technologies, depending on the requirements.

Collaboration
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests.

File sharing
A computer file can be e-mailed to customers, colleagues and friends as an attachment. It can be uploaded to a Web site or FTP server for easy download by others. It can be put into a "shared location" or onto a file server for instant use by colleagues

Streaming media
Many existing radio and television broadcasters provide Internet 'feeds' of their live audio and video streams
Webcams can be seen as an even lower-budget extension of this phenomenon. While some webcams can give full frame rate video, the picture is usually either small or updates slowly. Internet users can watch animals around an African waterhole, ships in the Panama Canal, the traffic at a local roundabout or their own premises, live and in real time. Video chat rooms, video conferencing, and remote controllable webcams are also popular. Many uses can be found for personal webcams in and around the home, with and without two-way sound.

Voice telephony
VoIP stands for Voice over IP, where IP refers to the Internet Protocol that underlies all Internet communication. This phenomenon began as an optional two-way voice extension to some of the Instant Messaging systems that took off around the year 2000. In recent years many VoIP systems have become as easy to use and as convenient as a normal telephone. The benefit is that, as the Internet carries the actual voice traffic, VoIP can be free or cost much less than a normal telephone call, especially over long distances and especially for those with always-on ADSL or DSL Internet connections. Voice quality can still vary from call to call but is often equal to and can even exceed that of traditional calls.
Leisure
Over 6 million people use blogs or message boards as a means of communication and for the sharing of ideas.
The pornography and gambling industries have both taken full advantage of the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising revenue for other Web sites. Although many governments have attempted to put restrictions on both industries' use of the Internet, this has generally failed to stop their widespread popularity. A song in the Broadway musical show Avenue Q is titled "The Internet is for Porn" and refers to the popularity of this aspect of the Internet.
One main area of leisure on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This form of leisure creates communities, bringing people of all ages and origins to enjoy the fast-paced world of multiplayer games. These range from MMORPG to first-person shooters, from role-playing games to online gambling. This has revolutionized the way many people interact and spend their free time on the Internet.
While online gaming has been around since the 1970s, modern modes of online gaming began with services such as GameSpy and MPlayer, which players of games would typically subscribe to. Non-subscribers were limited to certain types of gameplay or certain games.
Many use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation. As discussed above, there are paid and unpaid sources for all of these, using centralized servers and distributed peer-to-peer technologies. Discretion is needed as some of these sources take more care over the original artists' rights and over copyright laws than others.
Many use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book holidays and to find out more about their random ideas and casual interests.

People use chat, messaging and email to make and stay in touch with friends worldwide, sometimes in the same way as some previously had pen pals. Social networking Web sites like Friends Reunited and many others like them also put and keep people in contact for their enjoyment.
Cyberslacking has become a serious drain on corporate resources; the average UK employee spends 57 minutes a day surfing the Web at work, according to a study by Peninsula Business Services

Marketing
The Internet has also become a large market for companies; some of the biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet; also known as e-commerce. It is the fastest way to spread information to a vast amount of people simultaneously. The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized shopping—for example; a person can order a CD online and receive it in the mail within a couple of days, or download it directly in some cases. The Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of people more so than any other advertising medium.
Examples of personalized marketing include online communities such as MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Facebook and others which thousands of Internet users join to advertise themselves and make friends online. Many of these users are young teens and adolescents ranging from 13 to 25 years old. In turn, when they advertise themselves they advertise interests and hobbies, which online marketing companies can use as information as to what those users will purchase online, and advertise their own companies' products to those users.

BASIC TERMS USED IN INTERNET
The NETWORK:
Internet
the name given to the collective electronic network of computers and computer networks which are inter-connected throughout the world - started with the ARPAnet at the US Dept. of Defense.
WorldWideWeb - WWW - W3 the name given to the collection of computers which serve information in hypertext format to the INTERNET –
HTTPD - Hyper-text Transfer Protocol Daemon a computer program which manages the transfer of hyper-text and multimedia documents over the
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language the text markup language used to insert tags which allow a Web browser to correctly display a hyper-text document. HTML1, HTML +, HTML 2 and HTML 3 are versions of HTML in use at this time. HTML is a subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) first invented to display legal texts and now the world standard for large documentation projects.
VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language a tagging language for conveying three dimensional information over the Internet using a VRML
Hypertext documents which contain links to other documents within them - footnotes are a form of hypertext link.
Multimedia documents which contain text, sound, graphics and video elements that are all capable of being displayed to the user.
Hypermedia documents which combine hypertext links and multimedia elements.
DNS the Domain Name System which identifies each computer as a network node on the Internet using an internet protocol address system to translate from domain names to IP numbers and vice-versa.
DNS Server the computer you use to access the DNS to allow you to contact other computers on the Internet.
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions document which answers FAQs about various subjects.
RFC - Request for Comments a document which defines Internet operating protocols - despite the name it is more a statement of agreed standards than a request.
Internet Access Provider (IAP)/Internet Service Provider (ISP) an organization or commercial enterprise which provides access to the Internet.

ACCESS METHODS:
Dial-up
a computer connection that is brought up and brought down as needed - a simple version is dialing in to a servive provider over a modem as a dumb terminal - SLIP and PPP can also be dial-up connections - also known as a switched connection.
PPP - Point to Point Protocol an Internet standard for electronically connectiong a remote computer to an IP network - the method slowly replacing SLIP.
Wireless Network a method using infra-red, ultra-violet or radio waves, of connecting computers into a network.
Modem
a device that modulates and demodulates telephone toned to allow for the multiplexing of information on the telephone network.
Cable Modem a device that allows a computer to connect to a cable television system and connect to a computer network - cable modems work at speeds approaching Ethernet connections - probable wide-spread future way to connect to the Internet.

INTERNET TOOLS:
FTP - File Transfer Protocol a method of serving and obtaining files over the Internet. telnet a method of logging into another computer as a terminal on that computer.
NFS - Network File System a set of protocols that allow transparent access to a remote computers file system - another type is the Andrew File System (AFS).
Browser
a client program that retrieves documents and other materials from an HTTPD server and displays them in accord with the HTML specification - MOSAIC was the first widely available browser - CELLO was the second browser - NETSCAPE is the most used browser at this time.
EMail a software application that allows one to exchange messages with someone else.

RECENT FACTS ABOUT INTERNET 1. The # 1 activity on the internet today is: consumers gathering purchase information (US Dept of Commerce) 2. 2007 Internet Statistic Approximately 97.2 million women use the Internet in the United States, compared to 90.9 million men, according to research by eMarketer. 3. The eMarketer study estimates that 66.2 percent of female US residents three years of age or older will use the Internet this year (2007) as opposed to 64.2 percent of male residents in the same age range. 4. Affiliate Marketing is a $ 95 Billion Dollar industry that is expected to grow to over $ 230 Billion by 2008. (Forrester Research) 5. Small to Medium size businesses that utilize Interactive websites have grown 46% faster than those who don't (American City Business Journals) 6. Global internet ecommerce revenues since 1998 are over 444 Billion dollars NUA 7. Cisco Systems Inc. is today the world's largest Internet commerce site, selling more than $ 32 million in products every day. (Cisco Systems, Inc.) 8. Online sales will top US $ 184 billion by 2004. The Internet will influence approx. $ 500 billion in offline sales (Forrester Research) 9. Over 82 percent of college graduates will search for careers and employment information online NUA 10. The number of women using the Internet worldwide will pass 96 million, or 45 percent of the world's Internet users in 2001 (Computer Economics) 11. 96% of users find web pages through friends, other pages and search engines websites through magazines 64.3% (GVU)

12. 17,000 web site domains a day are being added to the Internet 13. An estimated 2.8 percent of the world's population is currently online (OCLC Research) 14. Estimated total world online users: 179 million, with a 100+ million in Canada & the USA 15. About 60% of North American Internet users have used the Web to shop (USCI) 16. 85% of Fortune 500 companies now list their Internet Address in their advertising. 17. 500 million users projected to be online for 2004 (USCI) 18. Currently, the most visited web sites on the Web are: Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN 19. A recent market study in Greenville County revealed that 30% of homes in this area have access to the Internet, this is about TWICE the national average! 20. Over 1,000,000 people per month are getting on the Internet. 85% of Fortune 500 companies now list their Internet Address in their advertising. 21. There are over 30 million Internet Users. 22. 17,000 web site domains a day are being added to the Internet. 23. Every 5 seconds a website is launched. 24. Everyday 50000 computers are sold / purchased around the world 25. Computer literacy in India is 5.1% only based on a survey by Barkha dutt – Aaj Tak. 26. eEducation industry in US is worth $350 bn , while India’s foreign exchange is $ 204bn

INTERNET BUSINESS
Electronic Business, or "e-Business", may be defined broadly as any business process that relies on an automated information system. Today, this is mostly done with Web-based technologies. The term "e-Business" was coined by Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM.
Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.
In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency using the Empty Vessel strategy. Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge management systems.
E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.

Applications can be divided into three categories:

INTERNAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS: ▪ Customer relationship management ▪ Enterprise resource planning ▪ Document management systems ▪ Human resources management

ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION: ▪ VOIP ▪ E-mail ▪ Voice mail ▪ Web conferencing

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE - (B2B) (B2C) (C2C) ▪ Internet shop ▪ Supply chain management ▪ Online marketing

B2B
Business-to-business or (B2B) is a term commonly used to describe the transaction of goods or services between businesses
B2B can also encompass marketing activities between businesses, and not just the final transactions that result from marketing, though B2B can be used to identify sales transactions between business (also sometimes referred to as 'Institutional Sales'). For example, a company selling photocopiers would likely be a B2B sales organization, as opposed to a B2C sales organization.
Examples of B2B ➢ Alibaba ➢ Globalsources ➢ Worldallproducts ➢ indiamart

B2C
Business-to-consumer (B2C), describes activities of commercial organizations serving the end consumer with products and/or services. It is usually applied exclusively to electronic commerce.
Business that sells products or provides services to end-user consumers. The term B2C, once popular, is now less frequently used, and the infrequent references are often followed by "...is dead." However, some analysts still predict that consumer businesses will thrive online, just not as big and fast as initially predicted. This is not news, of course, to the many niche businesses that are already enjoying success online.

B2C e-commerce has the following advantages: ▪ Shopping can be faster and more convenient. ▪ Offerings and prices can change instantaneously. ▪ Call centers can be integrated with the website. ▪ Broadband telecommunications will enhance the buying experience.

Examples of B2C ➢ Makemytrip ➢ Cleartrip ➢ Naukri ➢ Worldwashingmachine ➢ salehoo

C2C
Consumer-to-consumer (or C2C) electronic commerce involves the electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check quality of the products being offered.

Examples of C2C ➢ eBay ➢ Ad n Get ➢ Craigslist ➢ Tiger Books ➢ Amazon.com ➢ My.Yahoo Auction ➢ Mightybids.comΘ

When organizations go online, they have to decide which e-business models best suit their goals. A business model is defined as the organization of product, service and information flows, and the source of revenues and benefits for suppliers and customers. The concept of e-business model is the same but used in the online presence. The following is a list of the currently most adopted e-business models: ▪ E-shops ▪ E-procurement ▪ E-malls ▪ E-auctions ▪ Virtual Communities

▪ Collaboration Platforms ▪ Third-party Marketplaces ▪ Value-chain Integrators ▪ Value-chain Service Providers ▪ Information Brokerage

Revenue generated through internet ➢ Advertisements ➢ Database ➢ Ads by Google ➢ Buying & Selling of domains ➢ Buying & Selling of Websites ➢ Buying & Selling of Softwares ➢ Cash parking ➢ Virtual real estate

CHAPTER II

VIDEOS SHARING SITES

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INTRODUCTION TO VIDEOS SHARING SITES
Video sharing refers to websites or software where a user can distribute their video clips. Some services may charge, but the bulk of them offer free services. Many services have options for private sharing and other publication options. Video sharing services can be classified into several categories, among them: user generated video sharing websites, video sharing platform / white label providers and web based video editing. Please note that websites that are solely search engines and do not provide the hosting of their video content (such as Singingfish) are not included in this article.
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view that video. Because many users do not have personal web space, either as a paid service, or through an ISP offering, video hosting services are becoming increasingly popular, especially with the explosion in popularity of blogs, forums, and other interactive pages.
The mass market for camera phones has increased the supply of user-generated video. Traditional methods of personal video distribution, such as making a DVD to show to friends at home, are unsuited to the low resolution and high volume of camera phone clips. In contrast, current broadband Internet connections are well suited to serving the quality of video shot on mobile phones. Most people do not own web servers, and this has created demand for user-generated video content hosting, which the likes of YouTube are catering to.
Sharing videos on the Web is hot! It's been just a year since video sharing really got going, and already we take it for granted. But perhaps you're getting confused by the increasing number of video sharing sites and can't figure out what's best. Well, don't worry. We've done the hard work for you - and you'll be surprised to learn that the most popular sites aren't necessarily the best choices for sharing.
When choosing which video sharing sites to review, we took into account their popularity, ease-of-use, file size limitations, format flexibility, and options to download, post or podcast your video. Then we grouped the sites by the benefits they offer their visitors:
Video-sharing sites have exploded in popularity, offering nonprofit organizations a quick and easy way to get their video content in front of millions of viewers around the world. And although most of the Web's video-sharing sites won't charge to host your nonprofit's clips, are these services truly risk-free?

For instance, once you upload your new activist video to a sharing site, do you still own the rights to it? Will the site that hosts your organization's video divulge your personal information and identity if required by law? And will creating an account at a video-sharing service lead to a deluge of spam in your inbox?
The answers to these sorts of questions can usually be found in a site's terms of service (TOS) and privacy policy, legally binding agreements that disclose a Web site or online service's ground rules. In general, TOS agreements explain what rules and standards of conduct a site's visitors must follow. When you sign up for an account at a video-sharing site, you'll usually be required to read the TOS agreement and check a box indicating your agreement with the terms before you can use the site or service.
Privacy policies generally disclose what personal data a site collects about its visitors and how it uses this information. Most of the time, you won't be required to agree to a privacy policy in order to use a site, though you can usually locate a link to this agreement near the bottom of a site's home page.
By their very nature, most TOS agreements and privacy policies are long, detailed, and full of potentially confusing legalese, making them a chore for anyone but a lawyer to wade through. And while it can be tempting to skip over a site's TOS or privacy policy, doing so means that you might miss out on important information that could affect your nonprofit's video campaign at some point in the future.
To help save you the time it takes to scour lengthy video-sharing TOS agreements and locate the important sections, we've highlighted the points that will be most relevant to nonprofits that are considering putting their videos on the Web. We'll discuss the major questions you should ask yourself before uploading a video to an online sharing site; explain how the information in TOS agreements and privacy policies can affect your nonprofit; and compare eight services in a downloadable Excel spreadsheet at the end of the article.

THE RISE OF CLIP CULTURE ONLINE
The popularity of the websites that allow people to share short video snippets is leading to the rise of a clip culture “The telecommunications and broadcast industries' vision of the future of the internet invariably involves its convergence with television.”

Large telecommunications companies are busy gearing up for this future by investing heavily in new high-speed networks whose focus is not faster internet connectivity, but rather entry into the high-definition television broadcast market.
Similarly, the major broadcasters are emphasising the need to deliver their content across multiple platforms including conventional television, downloads and streaming services, as well as wireless devices.
Based on pilot projects and other small-scale initiatives, it is fair to say that this future is already here.
In North America, companies such as Verizon and Telus are actively expanding their high-definition television coverage, while office workers throughout the US were glued to their computer screens last week as the CBS television network streamed the NCAA men's college basketball tournament online.
South Korea is even more advanced, with thousands of people now enjoying access to broadcast quality television on their mobile phones.
Notwithstanding their blueprints for the future, the internet may not unfold exactly as planned. Standing in the way is the explosive growth of the "clip culture", a term coined by one expert to capture the massive growth of internet-based video sharing and distribution.

SHARED VIEWS
The emergence of video sharing sites is yet another seemingly instant internet success story that has caught many by surprise.
Last month, two sites, MSN Video and Youtube, attracted nearly 10 million unique US visitors each.
“ Telecommunications companies and intransigent broadcasters face an even tougher choice, as their vision of an on-demand converged internet, must now compete with the clip culture “ While those numbers are relatively insignificant when compared with network television viewership, widespread video sharing is just getting started.
Youtube, which is home to 25 million videos and streams 15 million of them each day, just launched its service last year.
Most of the videos on Youtube and other video sharing services are not full-length features.
Instead, taking their cue from the movie studios (whose previews or trailers are little more than a collection of clips) and sports networks (whose popular highlight shows are nothing but clips), the

overwhelming majority of videos are shorter clips running anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
The clips themselves fall into three broad categories. Home-grown or amateur clips constitute a significant percentage of the collection, as the mushrooming of user-generated content moves from blog postings to innovative multimedia featuring audio and video.
These clips should not be underestimated. While user-generated content was previously all but unavailable to the general public - with the forgettable exception of television shows such as America's Funniest Home Videos - the best of user-generated video today attracts large audiences and competes with anything being offered on the major networks.
Montage videos, which represent the next-generation of protest and fan sites, constitute the second category. A Youtube search for Prime Minister Tony Blair or President George Bush yields hundreds of videos, many of which bring together multiple clips to make powerful political statements.

BROADCASTING IRE
The third category, clips of network television shows, has generated the most controversy. Video sharing sites contain thousands of clips that previously aired on television.
In some instances, the clips appear with the approval of the broadcaster either because the clip is available for a fee or because the broadcaster has embraced the benefits of free publicity and cost-free distribution. From a business perspective, media companies are being forced to grapple with the competitive threat of user-generated content and to determine how to address unauthorised sharing of their clips.
Many now actively seek innovative new user-generated content and leverage video sharing sites to create greater interest in their programming.
For example, MTV2, part of the MTV music station family, and Deep Focus, the agency used by film studios to promote their movies, are working with Youtube to distribute content.
Telecommunications companies and intransigent broadcasters face an even tougher choice, as their vision of an on-demand converged internet, must now compete with the clip culture.
This presents new challenges, since users are increasingly not satisfied with merely consuming content, but rather demand the ability to share and re-create it.

HISTORY
The definition of video streaming is to broadcast a video footage through the Internet. In mid-20th century some developments was made to display media on computers for years, facing issues such as high costs and hardware capabilities. During 1970s, the basic concept of streaming and displaying media on the computers was proved. In 1980s computers became powerful enough to display various media. The main issues in that decade were:
• Providing enough CPU power to support the data rates
• Computer Network limitation
• Suitable operating system application to support media data

In 1990th the network became greater with enough bandwidth, public had more accessibility to the Internet and both computers and operating system applications became powerful enough to stream videos on the network.
Now media streaming is on demand and live. Public can easily have accessibility to a live media (audio and Video) streaming through a Broadband Internet Connection. On demand streaming, media data are stored on a network server for a long period of time and users can have accessibility to these streams at any time.

VIDEO SHARING
Now people can upload and broadcast their videos through the Internet. Websites such as YouTube website allows the users to upload their video to the server and also allows the registered or unregistered users for this website to watch the videos.
Registered Users are able to rate, write comments and also search for videos.
Other website like Google and Portolk are the other highest visited video sharing websites which provide the users same accessibility to upload their video footage and access the other people's video footage

BENEFITS
People
The main purpose of media is to develop the communication between people. Any new developments in media industry benefits and affect the target audience. Less than a decade ago it was not possible for everybody to discuss or introduce their personal views to the public and represent their culture etc. People needed to have their own magazine to be published, or set up their own radio or television station to communicate with their target audience what requires a high budget and it makes it almost not possible.
However media streaming, especially video streaming has given people this opportunity to communicate and represent their interests such as their point of views and any other matters and issue in their life to their target audience.
There are uncountable numbers of public who use the streaming media as cheapest way to gain free publicity all around the world. As an example by referring to www.myspace.com which is community based website and allows people to create their own groups, write about themselves, create their own profile and photo gallery and also stream their own audio and videos, you would find many of users who are representing their video or music to the others. Only cost for this type of users is a monthly charge for the Internet connection however the Internet could be available from libraries for free.

Government
As it has been mentioned before, Internet media streaming allows people to discuss about their point of views, their thoughts and believes without any fear from the government. New media could keep inform both parties, public and the government. By using this technology governments could be informed and updated about their people interest and expects from the government and take convenient action regarding the social, cultural and political matters among the nation they are governing.

HOW MEDIA INDUSTRY BENEFITS USING THIS TECHNOLOGY

TV broadcasting
Most of the Television stations have started broadcasting their program through the Internet live and on demand. Target audience who are unable to access the programs from TV, would be able to access the programs (Shows, News, Weathercast, etc), by using live or on demand streaming technology through the Internet.
Broadcasting companies broadcast live their programs through the Internet and also store them on their server for a long period in order to cover more target audience from all over the world.
Many Television companies, which broadcast through the Internet, Satellite especially Hot Bird, enable the target audience who do not have access to Hot Bird Satellites to have access to the TV programs online. As an example, INT (Iranian National Television) which broadcast programs only about politics and condemns the Iranian Government is broadcasting their programs through Hot Bird Satellite. Installing Hot Bird Satellite in UK sometimes facing technical issues in UK because of building structures. It is obvious that target audience prefer to access to this TV through Internet.

Film advertisements
This is another highlighted example of using media streaming in media industry. These days many film production companies advertise their new productions (Movies) through the Internet. Websites such as Yahoo advertises new upcoming and on the theatres movies by showing trailers. Using this strategy enables the viewers to get some ideas about the movie online and at anytime. Before, Internet Video Streaming become popular in media industry public could have access to trailers only on TV (advertisements) or Cinema Screens. The issue with advertising movies on the TV is that it required a high budget of money for just two minutes or less advertisement, which would be showed on limited time. But, by using this strategy to advertise on the Internet, there is no time limit. Trailers could be streamed for one up to unlimited minutes and public could have access to the trailers at any time.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Advantages ➢ Enables the target audience to access the media at anytime limited. The target audience could have access to the media (videos) at any time. ➢ It could be accessed live or on demand (stored on the server). ➢ It’s free to stream in video streaming websites (YouTube, Google). ➢ There is no need to have TV. Many people such as student, who are using broadband Internet connection and can not afford TV Licence could watch the programs they are interested by using this technology. For an example, BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and CNN upload their highlighted news every hour. The target audience could have access to the news (Video) at any time.

Disadvantages ➢ Legal issues such as uploading,, downloading and recording copyrighted materials. ➢ Uploading other people materials (Video Footage). ➢ Not possible to stop pornography, especially child pornography. Child pornography is banned in most of the moderated countries as UK. There are hundreds of website through the Internet which have no policy to stop the users from uploading violated, porn and child pornography material. These websites could be hosted from countries, those have not banned child or violated pornography. Also there is not much difficulties for children to access these type of video footages on the Internet. These issues could damage the society, children education and behaviours.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
On this decade computers are more powerful and more capable of decoding video formats. Also Internet Service Providers are following a massive competition and spend huge amount of money to provide the high bandwidth and fast Internet connections to their target audience.
MatrixStream Inc announced that they would release the first Advanced Video Codec (AVC) with the highest quality of video streaming for both live and demand on streaming.
The current standard definition video could be streamed with the resolution of 480 pixels vertically and from 640 to 720 pixels horizontally and High Definition (HD) format is 720 to 1,080 pixels vertically and 1,280 to 1,920 pixels horizontally.
MatrixStream’s Advanced Video Codec could be used in broadcasting through the Internet. by using this technology users can only connect a computer with Broadband Internet Connection to a Television and receive the DVD and HD video quality.

SOCIAL AND LEGAL ISSUES
There is no option to stop the users to record copyrighted videos on their computers. User can download the video footage easily on their computers by using download manager applications. Streaming websites such as YouTube and Portolk have developed their own flash media player which prevents users to download the video on their computers, however Streaming servers such as Google, allow the users to download the video they are watching by installing the Google’s Flash Media Player and download the video just by a simple click.
The second issue is that users can also upload the copyrighted video’s and other people’s private video footage.
For both issues mentioned above, in principles, there is no law to stop users, uploading, download and record the copyrighted video and it could damage the media industry through all over the world.
Young users (under 18) could also have access to the illegal materials. There are some policies to stop children using this type of materials such as questionnaire which asks about the users date of birth and if the date of birth matches 18 years old or over, website allows the users to access these material at anytime without any restrictions, note that users do not need any proof to prove their age, they simply write the date of birth of some one who is 18 and over and access the pages which is not suitable for their age.

There are a number of video sharing sites on the Web and there are new entrants every week. This is a list of the Top 15. They are ranked using Alexa traffic ratings as of July 28, 2007. Ranking numbers after each entry are for all sites on the web. (i.e. YouTube is the 6th most popular of all sites on the web, not video sharing sites.)There are a several very popular video sharing sites that Alexa does not break out for ranking because they are sub-domains of larger sites.
1 YouTube (Alexa Ranking 16)
2 Photobucket (Alexa Ranking 73)
3 Metacafe (Alexa Ranking 150)
4 iFilm (Alexa Ranking 683)
5 Putfile (Alexa Ranking 984)
6 Bolt (Alexa Ranking 1,089)
7 Dailymotion (Alexa Ranking 1,376)
8 vidilife (Alexa Ranking 1,583)
9 Guba (Alexa Ranking 1,682)
10 Grouper (Alexa Ranking 2,979)
11 Veoh (Alexa Ranking 3,816)
12 Rever (Alexa Ranking 5,191)
13 Yikers (Alexa Ranking 5,696)
14 Addicting Clips (Alexa Ranking 7,450)
15 vSocial (Alexa Ranking 7,969)

CHAPTER III

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM

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ABOUT YOUTUBE.COM
Founded in February 2005, YouTube is the leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.
Everyone can watch videos on YouTube. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.
YouTube received funding from Sequoia Capital in November 2005 and was officially launched one month later in December. Chad Hurley and Steve Chen proceeded to become the first members of the YouTube management team and currently serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer respectively.
In November 2006, within a year of its launch, YouTube was purchased by Google Inc. in one of the most talked-about acquisitions to date.
YouTube has struck numerous partnership deals with content providers such as CBS, BBC, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, NBA, The Sundance Channel and many more.
Media recognition
Within a relatively short time, YouTube has experienced much well-publicized growth, fueled primarily by online word-of-mouth. The website received an early surge of publicity when it hosted the popular Saturday Night Live short Lazy Sunday.[15] However, YouTube's official policy prohibits submission of copyrighted material, and NBC Universal, owners of SNL, soon decided to take action.
In February 2006, NBC asked for the removal of some of its copyrighted content from YouTube, including Lazy Sunday and 2006 Olympics clips.[6][16] The following month, in an attempt to strengthen its policy against copyright infringement, YouTube set a 10-minute maximum limit on video runtime. Although earlier users were grandfathered in, new members cannot upload videos over 10 minutes long. Established content creators can apply to have this restriction lifted.[17] (It should be noted, however, that the actual cutoff time is 10:58).[citation needed] The restriction can

easily be circumvented by uploaders, who simply split the original video into smaller segments, each under the '10-minute' maximum.
Though YouTube complied with NBC's demands, the incident made the news, garnering the website even more publicity. As YouTube continued growing in popularity, NBC began to realize the website's possibilities, and announced, in June 2006, a strategic partnership with YouTube. Under the deal, an official NBC channel was set up on YouTube, showcasing promotional clips for the series The Office. YouTube will also promote NBC videos on its site.[18]
CBS, which had also asked YouTube to remove several of its clips, followed NBC's example in July 2006. In a statement indicative of how traditional media's perception of YouTube (and similar sites) has changed, Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports noted:
“ Our inclination now is, the more exposure we get from clips like that, the better it is for CBS News and the CBS television network, so in retrospect we probably should have embraced the exposure, and embraced the attention it was bringing CBS, instead of being parochial and saying ‘let’s pull it down.’ ”
In August 2006, YouTube announced its goal, within 18 months, to offer every music video ever made, while remaining free of charge. Warner Music Group and EMI have confirmed that they are among the companies in talks to implement the plan. In September 2006, Warner Music and YouTube signed a deal, in which the website will be allowed to host every Warner music video while sharing a portion of the advertisement income. Moreover, user-created videos on YouTube will be allowed to use Warner songs in their soundtracks.
On October 9, 2006, CBS, Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment announced an agreement to provide content to YouTube.
On January 29, 2007, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley announced that the online video service will pay its active user-contributors (who should actually be the true copyright owners) a portion of the website's advertising revenue. However, at the World Economic Forum, Hurley did not mention an exact amount of money that YouTube will pay the contributors.[23]

Press coverage
Time featured a YouTube screen with a foil mirror as its annual 'Person of the Year', citing user-created media such as YouTube's, and featuring the site's originators along with several content creators. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times have also reviewed posted content on YouTube, and its effects upon corporate communications and recruitment in 2006. PC World

Magazine named YouTube the 9th of the Top 10 Best Products of 2006.[24] In 2007, both Sports Illustrated and Dime Magazine featured stellar reviews of a basketball highlight video entitled, The Ultimate Pistol Pete Maravich MIX.[25] Because of its acquisition by Google, it is sometimes referred to as "GooTube."[25]

Revenue model
Before being purchased by Google, YouTube declared that its business model was advertisement-based, making 15 million dollars per month. Some industry commentators have speculated that YouTube's running costs — specifically the bandwidth required — may be as high as 5 to 6 million USD per month,[26] thereby fueling criticisms that the company, like many Internet startups, did not have a viably implemented business model. Advertisements were launched on the site beginning in March 2006. In April, YouTube started using Google AdSense[citation needed]. YouTube subsequently stopped using AdSense but has resumed in local regions.

International arrival
On June 19, 2007, Eric E. Schmidt was in Paris to launch the new localization system. The entire interface of the website is now available with localized versions in numerous countries (Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom). Google aims to compete with local videosharing websites like DailyMotion in France. It also made an agreement with local television stations like M6 and France Télévisions to legally broadcast video content. Google also plans to localize in Germany and Turkey in the future.

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YOUTUBE’S HEADQUARTER

World YouTube Day
World YouTube day was declared to be on July 7th. It was first celebrated on July 7th 2007 at Washington Square Park where thousands of "YouTubers" from around the globe came to gather and rejoice in a great website.

Band And Music Promotion
YouTube has also become a means of promoting bands and their music. One such example is OK Go which got a huge radio hit and an MTV Video Music Awards performance out of the treadmill video for Here It Goes Again In the same light, a video broadcasting the Free Hugs Campaign with accompanying music by the Sick Puppies led to instant fame for both the band and the campaign, with more campaigns taking place in different parts of the world. The main character of the video, Juan Mann has also achieved fame, being interviewed on Australian news programs, even appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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YOUTUBE’S HEADQUARTER SANBRUNO

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOUTUBE ▪ Founded in February of 2005 by three former employees of eBay's PayPal unit. ▪ In July, more than 30 million people visited the site and those users watched more than 100 million vides a day. ▪ Youtube, which is home to 25 million videos and streams 15 million of them each day

In YouTube there were 5.1 million videos. By next day that number had grown by about 20% to 6.1 million. Because we know how many videos have been uploaded to the site, the length of each, and how many times it has been watched (total views were 1.73 billion) we can do a little multiplication to find out how much time has collectively been spent watching them.
Also, nearly 2,000 videos have "Zidane" in the title. Who at a desk anywhere on the planet didn't watch at least one head-butt video in the days after French soccer star Zinedine Zidane's meltdown in the World Cup final? For all the talk of the Internet fragmenting tastes and interests, YouTube is an example of the Web homogenizing experiences.
YouTube videos take up an estimated 45 terabytes of storage -- about 5,000 home computers' worth -- and require several million dollars' worth of bandwidth a month to transmit.
An even more enterprising YouTube scraper is Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, which, equipped with a supercomputer with 400 nodes and a 10 gigabit Ethernet connection, was able to learn about all of the 500,000 or so people who bothered to create profiles for themselves at the site.
Reports that 70% of YouTube's registered users are American and roughly half are under 20 years of age.
The most devoted uploader is Christy Leigh Stewart, a 21-year-old college student who lives near Modesto, Calif., and who has so far uploaded nearly 2,000 videos. Nearly all involve Korean pop music, a passion of Ms. Stewart. Indeed, she says the main reason she spends too much time with YouTube is to drive traffic to hwaiting.net, a Korean-oriented Web site she runs with her friend Megan Hansen.
Oh yes, statistic says The total time the people of the world spent watching YouTube since it started last year. The figure is -- drum roll, please -- 9,305 years!

YOUTUBE INFO
Video format
YouTube's video playback technology is based on Macromedia's Flash Player 7 and uses the Sorenson Spark H.263 video codec. This technology allows the site to display videos with quality comparable to more established video playback technologies (such as Windows Media Player, QuickTime and RealPlayer) that generally require the user to download and install a web browser plugin in order to view video. Flash also requires a plug-in, but the Flash 7 plug-in is generally considered to be present on approximately 90% of online computers.[62] The video can also be played back with gnash or VLC. It has pixel dimensions of 320 by 240 and runs at 25 frames per second. The maximum data rate is 300kbit/s.
YouTube converts videos into .FLV (Adobe Flash Video) format after uploading.[63] The extension is then stripped from the file (Extension can be found again with TrID). The different files are stored in obscurely named subdomains, to make ripping the videos difficult. YouTube also converts content to other formats so that it can be viewed outside of the website. See below.
YouTube officially accepts uploaded videos in .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, MPEG and .MP4, formats[64]
Video can be seen in windowed mode or full screen mode; it is possible to switch the mode during the viewing of any video without reloading it thanks to the full-screen function of Adobe Flash Player 9.

Audio format
YouTube files contain an MP3 audio stream. By default, it is mono-encoding with a 65kbit/s rate at 22050 Hz. However, it is possible to get a stereo audio track if the movie file is manually converted to FLV format using a program such as ffmpegX for Macintosh or the commercial Riva FLV Encoder for Windows.
Below is a short summary of important information for individuals interested in producing video to upload to YouTube

Becoming a YouTube Member
There is a need to become a YouTube member to upload video. Being a member permits the following:
• Save videos
• Create playlists
• Leave comments
To become a member go to the following URL: http://youtube.com
• 100 MB file size limit
• Most files under 5 minutes in length
• 10 minute length limit
• May obtain a 10+ minute account by file size still limited to 100 MB

File Formats are Permitted for Video Files?
• .WMV
• .AVI
• .MOV
• .MPG

Best Format to Upload for High Quality
• MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
• 320 x 240 pixels
• MP3 audio
• 30 fps (frames per second)

Length of Time to Upload File to YouTube
• 1 – 5 minutes/MB
• Time will vary depending upon the speed of the Internet connection
Length of Time Videos Remain on YouTube
• Remain indefinitely
• Videos may be removed by YouTube for cause (e.g., copyright violation, etc.)
• User uploading files may also remove

How Upload
• Click “Upload Videos” in the upper right-hand corner of any YouTube page (link may be occasionally located elsewhere on the page so there may be a need to look elsewhere) • Enter as much information about video as possible
• Click the “Go Upload file” link
• In the next window click the “Browse” button to browse the video file. Select the file to upload.
• Determine if you want the video set to Public or Private
• Click the “Upload Video” button.
• Be patient when uploading video. There will be a delay involved that will be influenced by the size of the file being uploaded, the speed of your internet connection and how busy the YouTube site may be at the time. It’s not unusual for the time delay to be five minutes or even longer.

TERMS OF SERVICE SUMMARY
According YouTube's terms of service users may upload videos only with permission of the copyright holder and of the depicted persons. Pornography, defamation, harassment, commercial advertisements and material that encourages criminal conduct is prohibited. The uploader grants YouTube a license to distribute and modify the uploaded material for any purpose; this license terminates when the uploader deletes the material from the site. Users may view videos on the site as long as they agree to the terms of service; downloading or copying of the videos is not permitted. • You are bound by YouTube’s terms and conditions and its privacy policy if you visit the site. • The conditions apply to users who contribute to the web-site. YouTube is not responsible for the content of any websites which are linked to YouTube. • You use YouTube for purely personal purposes and not for any commercial purpose. • You need YouTube’s permission for any copying or redistribution of its contents. • You are required to furnish accurate information while opening an account with it. You are responsible for keeping your account details secure. • YouTube is not liable for any loss caused to you due to any authorized use of your YouTube account, but you are liable to YouTube for any such damage to YouTube. • You will not use any software such as 'spiders' to harvest information from YouTube. • You cannot copy or distribute any material from YouTube for commercial purpose, without its express permission. • While copying/downloading any material, copyright notices should be left intact. • You may be allowed to submit content to YouTube (User Submissions), but its confidentiality is not ensured. • Such content must be your own or you should have copyright owner’s written permission. • You retain the copyright for your content, but by submitting it to YouTube you are giving YouTube the right to use the material in any form that it may desire. This right will terminate only when you remove the content from YouTube website. • You will not submit falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage YouTube or any third party. • You will also not submit any material which is obscene, defamatory or otherwise objectionable, or unlawful. •

• You will also not post advertisements or solicitations of business, or impersonate another person. • YouTube will remove all content considered inappropriate or that violates somebody’s intellectual copyrights. Anybody who repeats such activity may also be denied access to YouTube. • You don’t have any claims against YouTube for User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable. • Your use of YouTube is solely at your risk, and YouTube has no liability for any deficiency in service or damage due to the content, including that from any virus you may get from YouTube. • YouTube does not claim that its content is appropriate in other countries also. • You will defend YouTube against any suit connected with your access to YouTube, even after you have discontinued its use. • You visit YouTube only if you or over 18 years or have parental/guardian consent and are able to understand these conditions. • You should not use YouTube if you are under 13 years of age. • You can’t transfer your membership to somebody else. • The site is subject to only San Mateo County, California courts’ jurisdiction. • You can sue YouTube within 12 months of the cause of action.

ALTERNATIVE USES FOR YOUTUBE
➢ The video-sharing phenomenon, YouTube, has made its mark on computer screens around the world. Now everyday people are getting in on the filmmaking action posting videos of varying quality. A random look at a recent day's most-viewed videos on YouTube includes topics ranging from "A Sloppy Drunk" and "A Guy Goes Shopping with a Stocking on His Head" to "Healthy, Quick, and Easy Recipes" and "An Interview with Bruce Willis".

➢ Whether users are after their fifteen minutes of fame or are using the site to share videos with family and friends, YouTube does have a variety of uses that go beyond mere entertainment. For example, one often overlooked use of YouTube is in conjunction with eBay or other online marketplaces.

➢ For example, if you are selling an item online such as a car, RV, or boat, consider posting a video of it on YouTube and providing a link in your online description. This gives buyers the opportunity to fall in love with your item by seeing it in much greater detail than mere photos can provide.

➢ Another YouTube use is for sharing videos of the family with grandparents. This offers immediate gratification of seeing the little ones in action without the need for shipping off tapes or DVDs. You can even make your videos private by going into the My Videos section and choosing the Edit Video Info button. Simply find the broadcast section and click the option that says Private.

➢ Use YouTube when planning a family reunion. Ask family members from around the globe to post short videos showing a little bit about their lifestyle before the reunion. This allows everyone to get reacquainted beforehand and makes a terrific icebreaker. It also allows family members to show off their homes and hobbies as well as reveal a little about themselves that otherwise might not get shared.

HISTORY OF YOUTUBE
The Start
It began in a garage in Menlo Park, California. Three twentysomethings were hanging out, chatting about a party they'd gone to the night before. They'd taken some video footage at the party and were hoping to share it with friends but couldn't figure out how to get it online. So they set out to find a way to do just that.
On Monday, October 9, Google announced that it had paid $1.65 billion in stock for the purchase of YouTube, the online video sharing service started by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. In just over a year and a half, the three partners turned a simple concept into an astoundingly popular site, one that serves more than 100 million videos per day, with more than 65,000 videos being uploaded daily. According to site tracking firm Hitwise, 60 percent of all videos watched online are clips from YouTube. Not bad for a 19-month-old company.
So just how did YouTube become an online sensation? This online video service incorporates a heavy dose of social networking that turns users into fanatics. Users upload their own clips (with many being snatched from TV and other media), and the site allows others to post comments and rate the clips, as well as embed the videos on their own blogs. The site has created YouTube celebrities, like lonelygirl15, and allowed buzzed-about TV clips -- like the notorious recent Fox News interview with former president Bill Clinton -- to spread like wildfire. And like other popular Web 2.0 services, it's intuitive and easy to use.
While this deal is an amazing coup for the three founders, the future success of this venture isn't guaranteed. Copyright concerns and an unproven business model raise some question as to just how much money and effort Google will have to invest in this business to keep the momentum going.

Back to the Beginning
Exactly how did these three former PayPal employees create Web 2.0's biggest success so far? After registering the domain on February 15, 2005, the partners spent a few months on site development and released a test version of YouTube to the public in May 2005. This initial beta version primarily featured videos of Chen's cat, PJ.
To get their website some buzz beyond their inner circle of friends, the partners came up with a contest that awarded an iPod Nano to a random YouTube member every day for two months. They used a point-based system -- for example, giving users one point for signing up, one for inviting others to join and one for submitting a video. The more points you gained, the better your chance of

winning the iPod. This contest generated the traffic YouTube needed to make it one of the fastest-growing sites around: By September 2005, users were viewing YouTube videos more than a million times a day.
But sites can't run on visitor views alone. And that's where the partners' PayPal connections came into play. After former PayPal CFO Roelof Botha ran into Chen at a party in 2005, he decided to put some clips from his Italian honeymoon on YouTube. As the number of visitors skyrocketed, Botha, now a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital (known for backing Google, Apple and Yahoo!), started looking at the site from an investor's perspective.
With Chen's credit card maxed out on business expenses, the partners knew they needed an influx of cash. Botha convinced Sequoia Capital to invest, and the VC firm stepped up in November 2005 with $3.5 million in funding. With serious capital in place, the partners officially launched the site to the public in December that year. The number of views soon reached three million a day.
In April of 2006, YouTube received an additional $8 million in a second round of funding from Sequoia Capital. Since then, the site's continued to pick up steam, quickly becoming one of the most popular destinations on the net.

Is The Future As Bright as They Say?
Despite the fact that YouTube has never generated a profit and, in fact, is rumored to be losing $500,000 a month, Google sees limitless income (read: advertising) opportunities with the popular site. Hurley and Chen will continue to operate the company, while reporting to their Google superiors. (Prior to the acquisition, Karim left the company to pursue an advanced degree at Stanford though he is still involved with YouTube and was given a piece of the acquisitional funding.)
Yet there are still questions about the long-term viability of YouTube. First is the unproven business model. The traffic is there, but will advertisers follow at a pace that will allow the company to break even? (It's rumored the company spends more than $1 million per month in hosting charges.) Google's experience with online advertising should be a boon in this area.
And Google will no doubt have to deal with numerous copyright infringement lawsuits as a result of eager users uploading the latest TV and movie clips. So far, YouTube has only been hit with one lawsuit by a California journalist over copyright infringement. But the site has also had to take down several videos to settle copyright matters, which YouTube does when content owners request it.

Another good sign, however, is that some major companies understand the power of YouTube's audience and upload their own clips to generate buzz or test out ideas.
In spite of these doubts, YouTube can easily be designated a prime example of Web 2.0 success. The companies in this second swell of online enterprises actively involve their users, encourage social networking, make use of technology like RSS feeds, and facilitate user-created content.
With the plethora of like-minded young companies like Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia and Flickr emerging, the big response they're seeing, and the many acquisitions by major players like Google, News Corp. and Yahoo!, this points to a second wave for dotcom startups reminiscent of the IPO frenzy before the bubble burst in 2001. But this time, investors are more cautious, so the competition is much fiercer amongst startups. After 2001, most venture capitalists turned away from young companies, instead seeking out more mature companies with older, more experienced management teams and proven business models. But after internet stocks came back to life in 2004, venture capitalists have once again been spotting -- and latching on to -- young talent like Hurley and Chen.
So what's next for YouTube? Yahoo! is already snapping at their heels, having recently upgraded its video service to allow consumers to submit videos directly to it. But Chen and Hurley are prepared: They say consumers will be able to view YouTube clips on phones and other devices sometime in the very near future. And, they say, there's a chance they'll expand YouTube beyond video to audio and other content. And of course, Google offers its own viral video service, so you have to wonder if the two services will eventually be integrated or if one will be discontinued or morphed into something else.
There are yet more questions: Will some users be driven away by the potential increase in advertising and promotions? Will the Google connection take away from the site's somewhat edgy feel, a characteristic that attracted many users to the site in the first place? How will the site create a sustainable profit? Is the $1.65 billion acquisition of a company with an unproven business model a sign of another bubble?
Time will tell what the future holds for YouTube and its founders, but Hurley, Chen and Karim have certainly locked in their place in internet history as protagonists in the biggest overnight success story in recent memory.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
Created a better user experience around sharing video clips online
Online video definitely existed before YouTube came into vogue. However, uploading videos, sharing and watching them was quite cumbersome. The primary issues were:
• Lack of a viable storage platform: Video files were too large to be e-mailed. One of the alternatives was to upload them to a generic file-hosting service. This option was fraught with several issues including restrictions on file sizes imposed by storage providers (unless the user had a premium, paid account) and a poor to non-existent interface to share videos with friends and family. The other option was to share videos via peer-to-peer file-sharing software like BitTorrent, which unfortunately shared similar limitations.
• Mediocre watching experience - Viewers would typically need to wait for the entire video to download before they could start watching it. This was a problem not limited to just peer-to-peer video sharing. Most professional websites with video content had the same issue. Downloading the video was just half the battle. Users needed to install the appropriate video player, the free versions of which often behaved like ’spyware’. Even with the right video players and ‘codecs’, there was a fair chance that downloaded video would not play.
• Fragmented viewing experience - Assuming that the user managed to download and play one of these videos, the experience did not go much farther. A video shared on BitTorrent was a standalone unit of content, i.e. there was nothing to connect it to related video clips, say other episodes of a show that the user had just watched. Clearly, any mechanism to group similar content or organize content into catalogs was missing. Also, there was very little by way of content reviews or rating.

YouTube essentially took a problem with a few pre-existing, albeit clumsy solutions, added some engineering ingenuity and lots of creativity to come up with the best working solution. Content suppliers, i.e. those uploading videos could now upload video effortlessly. They could tag uploaded videos with keywords. On the consumption side, by adopting a Macromedia Flash-based video player embedded on a web-page, which played the video almost instantaneously, YouTube eliminated the need for downloads and local media players. Users could now search for videos by keywords, share them by mailing links to the videos, and also rate and comment on these videos. Consequently, popular videos bubbled up to the top in an organic fashion. Notice how, besides the player, other features were essentially attributes of sites sharing pictures, Flicker for example.

YouTube was able to adopt what worked in the world of picture-sharing to the world of video-sharing.

Distribution of popular content (often copyrighted) drove adoption
Distributing popular and hard-to-find video clips was clearly a success factor. Clips of the popular, long-running television show, Saturday Night Live was a particularly significant example. A free-form platform that allowed users to upload content had to contend with copyright violations. While this is one of the oft-repeated complaints about YouTube, it should be remembered that the founders decided to go ahead with the idea despite the eventual failures of the likes of Napster and Kaaza. While the ethics of such a strategy would require a lengthier discussion in an of itself, the founders clearly took a chance with something that other entrepreneurs might have balked at.

Viral customer growth due to widget marketing
YouTube allowed users to easily embed any hosted videos on web pages or blogs. This turned out to be particularly popular with social-networking websites, especially MySpace. The inbound links from these ‘widgets’ also helped YouTube increase its page rank on Google, thereby driving traffic via natural search..

Chose the right technology platform for the desired user experience
While the technology platform used by YouTube was not particularly remarkable, it was designed to solve the problem at hand. The technology concept was to encode videos in the Macromedia Flash format and take advantage of the millions of computers which already had the Flash player installed on it. When Macromedia launched Flash 7 with video playback capability, YouTube was among the first to exploit this feature. Further, based on the team’s past experience working for PayPal, they were able to develop a platform that scaled quickly to handle the viral growth in content and traffic.

Several environmental factors converged leading to YouTube’s success: ▪ Bandwidth became cheaper, faster and ubiquitous. It would have been impossible to gain an audience the size of YouTube’s as recent as five years ago due to the lack of broadband penetration. ▪ Online social networks had attained critical mass. YouTube took off in a big way when MySpace.com users started embedding YouTube content on their pages. Members of these users’ networks in turn started adopting YouTube. YouTube was able to leverage an existing social network rather than build one ground up. ▪ Producer-side technology became more accessible: cheap digital video cameras could now be connected to computers thanks to USB 2.0/Firewire becoming available on most personal computers. Also, use of cell-phones with video cameras became more prevalent.
A shift in demographics helped: a post dot-com generation was seeking an online experience that placed a lot of emphasis on entertainment. ▪ Platform-side technology had become cheaper: it became possible to store, manage and serve large repositories of content at a fraction of dot-com era prices.

YouTube will begin rewarding its users by paying them money for their creativity; users didn’t like the idea according to the online community, since they think the quality of the videos will diminished dramatically since people will upload “anything” just to try to get the rewards.
YouTube has a “testing project” section called TestTube, which indicates that there are 2 projects going on. The first one is called AudioSwap, which let users uses soundtrack from artists and record labels in their uploaded videos. The second one is called Streams, which let users “create a YouTube room to watch and interact with other users while sharing videos”

TO THE MEDIA, YOUTUBE IS A THREAT AND A TOOL
Media companies are of two minds about Internet video-sharing site YouTube, which rocketed to fame by letting users share homemade videos along with copyrighted clips from movies, TV shows and music videos.
They are unsure of whether YouTube is a friend or a foe -- a threat that could siphon off their TV audiences and ad dollars or a powerful promotion machine that could generate buzz for the shows. While users have had virtually unfettered freedom to post and watch whatever clips they want, big media companies are starting to reassert control by seeking removal of some shows.
If all or most of the bootlegged content disappears from YouTube, some users wonder whether YouTube can live up to the promise Google Inc. saw when it agreed to buy the site for $1.65 billion in stock this month.
Last week, Comedy Central asked YouTube to remove some copyrighted clips of its "South Park" and "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." At the same time, NBC Universal Inc. has opted to let copyrighted clips of its "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" stick around on the site.
"Everybody is learning, in some sense, how to draw the line," said Rick Cotton, executive vice president and general counsel for NBC Universal. Cotton said NBC asks YouTube to take down more than 1,000 clips a month, including some that cross an obvious line by including an entire episode of a show. But NBC thinks exposing other clips on YouTube could help the network.
"This medium is at the cutting edge," Cotton said. "I think our creative executives feel that 'The Office' and 'Saturday Night Live' benefit from the significant attention we've gotten online."
YouTube is the most recent example of how the ease of sharing digital information poses copyright threats to media companies. Internet users can self-publish just about anything, including clips of popular TV shows that they record at home. Over the past year, the site has brought Internet video to the masses, drawing 81 million visitors in September, according to ComScore Networks Inc. Now, as more people spend more time watching video on the Web, companies such as NBC are looking to YouTube to help figure out the future of television.
Not all networks are open-minded about YouTube. Last week, a group representing Japanese authors and copyright holders reportedly asked YouTube to take down 30,000 videos. News Corp. also toes a hard line, asking the site to take down all infringing content.
Comedy Central and its parent company, Viacom Inc., declined to comment on the request it made to YouTube last week. A spokeswoman for YouTube, Julie Supan, also declined to comment on the Comedy Central removals.

But thousands of clips from Comedy Central shows remained on YouTube yesterday, including ones from "South Park" and "The Daily Show."
One of YouTube's challenges is that some media companies haven't developed a unified policy on how to deal with violations of their copyrighted material, according to Supan, YouTube's senior marketing director.
"On one phone call, we're getting asked to remove the content. The next one is from a marketing team from the same company who is uploading it and asking where it is" on the Web site, she said.
Six of the top 20 most-watched videos on YouTube.com as of yesterday came from movies, TV shows, commercials or music videos. Viewed more than 5 million times each, they include clips from NBC's "America's Got Talent," the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" and Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" music video.
Posting copyrighted clips violates the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But under that law, YouTube and similar sites cannot be held liable if they have a mechanism for taking down copyrighted materials "expeditiously." YouTube said it plans to launch technology that will help it automatically identify copyrighted content. Rival site Guba, which has about 2 million monthly users, has its own filtering technology that blocks copyrighted goods from being posted more than once.
Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, predicted that content owners will find a middle ground between yanking everything and letting YouTube users have free reign. "It would in some ways be a suicide pact for them to take down everything, because they would lose the attention" that the Web generates, he said.
Already, NBC, CBS, Warner Music and others have inked deals to provide YouTube with officially sanctioned videos. In some cases, YouTube is sharing ad revenue with content owners.
Not all YouTube users see copyrighted content as the main attraction of the site, where users post more than 100,000 clips daily.
Rebeccah Snyder, a 26-year-old college student from Ypsilanti, Mich., is a regular contributor who posts videos of herself talking about her life. "I was never on [YouTube] looking for the 'South Park' episodes or the jokes from 'The Colbert Report,' " Synder said. "It's always been a community thing."But for many, the TV shows are the big draw.Lawrence Lee, a 22-year-old who lives in Arlington, has posted "Daily Show" clips to YouTube and doesn't worry too much about copyright infringement. "There's been such a separation from my generation in that area. Not many people are as concerned about the copyright issue," Lee said. "People want to have entertainment. People want

to share their experience with their friends. This is not really going to change all that much until [TV] networks get behind using this new technology to push their media out."
Another user, Jeff Reifman, said he was upset to discover that clips he and others had posted of "The Daily Show" were removed Friday.
Reifman said he had felt comfortable posting clips after the show's star, Jon Stewart, seemed to endorse video sharing in an interview with Wired magazine.
Removing its fare from YouTube is a move Comedy Central will come to regret, Reifman said. "All the people who posted videos are volunteer marketers for Comedy Central," he said. "The network benefits from people talking about their programming, becoming the water-cooler chatter at the office. They've shot themselves in the foot."
Some companies apparently recognize the appeal of illicitly copied videos and try to make their material look pirated to generate excitement among users.
Nike Inc., for example, posted the same short video of soccer star Ronaldinho on YouTube, once under the user name "nikesoccer" and again under the "joeB" moniker. Nike spokeswoman Morgan Shaw acknowledged that the company posts videos under different names to appeal to teen audiences.
"It's really, really common" for companies to try to pose as average users, YouTube's Supan said, adding that the company encourages TV and movie studios and big advertisers to upload videos under their company names. "Users want to know it's legitimate content."
The growth of user-generated video sharing sites has presented major media companies with a dilemma. Such sites mean their artists can be exposed to new audiences, but they carry the risk of undermining copyrights held by the companies.
One notable absentee from the lawsuit, YouTube, has managed to placate Universal by agreeing to pay licensing fees and share associated advertising revenues for use of its artists’ work.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND CONTROVERSIAL MATERIAL
Copyright
YouTube policy does not give permission for anyone to upload content not permitted by United States copyright law, and the company frequently removes uploaded infringing content. Nonetheless, a large amount of potentially infringing content continues to be uploaded (e.g., television shows/clips, film clips, commercials, music videos, music concerts, M.U.G.E.N, emulator hacks, or games republished onto another system such as PSP). Generally speaking, unless a copyright holder reports them, YouTube only discovers these videos via indications within the YouTube community through self-policing. YouTube generally identifies video content through search terms that uploaders associate with clips. Some deceptive users create alternative search terms when uploading specific file types (similar to the deliberate misspelling of band names on MP3 filesharing networks). For a brief time, members could also report on one another. The flagging feature, intended as a means of reporting questionable content, has been subject to considerable abuse; for a time, some users were flagging other users' original content for copyright violations out of spite. YouTube proceeded to remove copyright infringement from the list of flaggable offenses.
Content owners are not just targeting YouTube for copyright infringements, but are also targeting third party websites that link to infringing content on YouTube and other video-sharing sites. For example QuickSilverScreen vs. Fox Daily Episodes vs. Fox and Columbia vs. Slashfilm.[39] The liability of linking remains a grey area with cases for and against. The law in the U.S. currently leans towards website owners being liable for infringing links although they are often protected by the DMCA providing they take down infringing content when issued with a takedown notice. However, a recent court ruling in the U.S. found Google not liable for linking to infringing content

Examples of infringement complaints
On October 5, 2006, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) finalized their copyright complaints regarding Japanese media on YouTube. Thousands of media from popular Japanese artists (such as Tokyo Jihen and other music including Jpop) were removed.

When CBS and Universal Music Group signed agreements to provide content on YouTube, they announced a new technology to help them find and remove copyrighted material.
TV journalist Robert Tur filed the first lawsuit against the company in the summer of 2006, alleging copyright infringement for hosting a number of famous news clips without permission. The case has yet to be resolved.
On November 9, 2006, Artie Lange said that his lawyers were in talks with YouTube, after Lange learned that his entire DVD, It's the Whiskey Talking, was available for free on the website. He added that he will either demand money from them, or will sue.
Viacom and the British Broadcasting Corporation both demanded YouTube to take down more than 200,000 videos.
Viacom sues YouTube, Google, for more than 1 billion dollarsViacom announced it was suing YouTube, and its owner Google, for more than $1 billion in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Viacom claims that YouTube posted over 160,000 of their videos on the website without their permission.
In 2007 a 15 year old Australian boy managed to get YouTube to delete over 200 YouTube videos belonging to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation using a fake DMCA take down notice. When the fake DMCA notice arrived, the ABC already had in place a long standing deal with YouTube to freely share its videos. In his hand written letter the boy claimed that he was acting on behalf of the "Australian Broddcasting Corperation ,giving his own hotmail address as his business contact and demanded that hundreds of videos from ABC’s The Chaser's War on Everything television program be deleted from YouTube's servers. Despite the boy not having any affiliation with the ABC and the spelling errors on his hand written form YouTube did delete all of the videos at the boy’s request and replaced each with a message stating "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Australian Broadcasting Corporation".

Use of acoustic fingerprints
On October 12, 2006, YouTube announced that because of recent agreements with high-profile content creators, they now required to use antipiracy software, which uses an audio-signature technology that can detect a low-quality copy of licensed video. YouTube would have to substitute an approved version of any clip or remove the material immediately. Industry analysts speculated that removal of content with such a system might reduce overall user satisfaction.On April 16, 2007, Google's CEO Eric E. Schmidt presented a keynote speech at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas.

Violence
Main articles: Cyber-bullying#Influence and Cyber-bullying
Wikinews has related news:
New Zealand school children put fight videos on YouTubeOn June 1, 2006, the evening ITV News bulletin reported that YouTube and similar sites were being used by teenagers who were recording fights on mobile phones. In July 2007, a similar incident happened at a school in Hayling Island, U.K

Animal abuse
YouTube has been criticized for hosting hundreds of videos of real-life animal cruelty made specifically to be shown on the site. In spite of these videos being flagged as inappropriate by many users, YouTube has generally failed to take the same policing actions to remove them that they have with videos containing copyright infringement or sexual content.

White House National Drug Control involvement
In September 2006, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) began running anti-drug messages through YouTube.[55] In response, many YouTube users began uploading rebuttals and low rating the public service announcements. Consequently, since mid-September, the ONDCP has removed the ability to evaluate any of their messages.

New York Times reports anti-U.S. attack videos
On October 5, 2006, The New York Times reported on the proliferation of what they considered to be anti-U.S. Iraqi insurgent attack videos on YouTube

Banning
Main article: Blocking of YouTube
YouTube has been blocked in several countries since its inception. These countries include: Brazil,Morocco. Certain video pages have been banned as of October 1, 2007 in Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
Schools are also starting to ban YouTube because students post videos of bullying and also because of the increased bandwidth usage

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WORLD MAP INDICATING THE USE OF YOUTUBE.COM

GOOGLE ACQUIRE YOUTUBE
YouTube is where you go to watch a video that makes you laugh. It's where fans catch their favorite star's latest TV talk show appearance or where amateurs post their videos of everyday life, such as catching mom unaware beach go-ers are amused by her singing. Google is said to be willing to pay $1.6 billion for YouTube. Considering that Google has $10 billion in cash, that's not only affordable, but also a strategic buy. Google has its own video site, but it's clearly not the leader YouTube is. YouTube had over 30 million users in July. That's three times more than Google Video and almost six times more than Yahoo Video. However, YouTube has run into legal trouble because people have posted copyrighted material. "You need to respect the rights of copyright holders, but not so much that you restrict user access and freedom on the Internet. And I think Google has done a fairly good job of balancing that, and I think YouTube is headed in that direction as well, which is why they may be a good match."
YouTube has worked out deals with NBC and with Warner Music Group to pay royalties for copyrighted material. That's why you'll find video clips of Jay Leno on YouTube.
Google makes its money from Internet advertising, and analysts say YouTube has proven it can deliver millions of users' eyeballs to advertisers.
YouTube has several smaller competitors, such as Sausalito-based Grouper.com. Grouper already has been snapped up by Sony. The Google deal would be so big that it's likely to cause others to merge.

Google & YouTube: Match Made In Heaven

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The decision for Google to acquire YouTube is largely undisclosed. However, we can still get a sneak peek of the milestones that YouTube has gone through to generate 1.65 billion dollars.
The popularity of Google Video over YouTube remained until the beginning of the second quarter of 2006 according to Google Trends. The news references in the media that increased dramatically in the first quarter help to push YouTube traffic to a series of record highs.

9th Apr
The day YouTube surpasses Google Video and the gap is widening up each day thereafter. It is also the day YouTube is known to the major media in the US.
A year ago, co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen were in between jobs, a pair of twenty something geeks running up big credit card debts as they tooled around a garage trying to develop an easy way for people to share homemade videos on the Web. “We see ourselves as a combination of America’s Funniest Home Videos and Entertainment Tonight.”

1st Jun
Yahoo Inc. is reprogramming its online video service so it’s more like YouTube.com. Yahoo will store homemade videos on its own site for the first time as it attempts to build a platform for people to browse and rate the clips. The videos will be separated into different categories, including a section devoted to the most-watched selections.

27th Jun
NBC and YouTube are going from foes to friends. Selected clips of NBC series will be embedded on YouTube.com. NBC is expected to plug the YouTube alliance on the air and buy advertising on the site. NBC Uni has been active in putting its programming on new-media platforms including NBC.com, Apple’s iTunes and peer-to-peer service Wurld Media.

17th Jul
YouTube serves up 100 million videos a day and is accounted for 60 percent of all videos watched online. News Corp.’s MySpace, the social networking site popular with teens, has a nearly 19 percent share of the market according to hit wise. Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN, Google and AOL each have 3 percent to 5 percent of the video search market. Collectively, these four major web portals have a smaller share than either YouTube or MySpace.

17th Aug
Phil Angelides, California’s Democratic candidate for governor uses MySpace and YouTube to circulate campaign ads, speeches and other clips. “It can help you reach an audience that otherwise might be more difficult to reach. Not as many young voters watch the evening news.”

22nd Aug
Paris Hilton gets a “YouTube Channel”, a dedicated promo tool designed to both foster sales of her records and boost viewership of Fox’s PrisonBreak show. The clips are professionally produced, Hollywood style mainstream promos. This is the first attempt for YouTube to feature dedicated promo strategy via corporate channels.

9th Oct
Google Inc. announced on 9th October that it has agreed to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction.

The reasons behind Google’s acquisition seem quite intuitive. YouTube falls in line with Google’s strategy of converting user visits to its properties into contextual advertising revenue. YouTube’s huge user-base combined with its own user base gives Google formidable market power and the ability to influence consumer behavior. Also, while the prospect of YouTube being acquired by one of the media giants was slim, the acquisition did serve to deter competitors like Yahoo from making further inroads into the online video-sharing market.
For Sequoia Capital, YouTube’s main investor, the investment turned out to be a huge success. Sequoia had initially invested $3.5 million at a pre-money valuation of $15 million and another $8 million in a second round of funding. Sequoia is estimated to have owned approximately 30% of YouTube, for a stake valued at $495M. This represents a 43X return on invested capital in less than 2 years time. Sequoia was chosen by the YouTube founders due to pre-existing relationships and the fact that Sequoia apparently ‘got’ the concept of YouTube early on. According to YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, during YouTube’s Series A fundraising process Sequoia impressed the YouTube team by having Sequoia’s entire staff experiment with the YouTube product.
Revenue projections for YouTube have not been disclosed, however Fred Wilson has estimated YouTube’s revenue figures potential at $400 million annual revenue, $150 million net annual revenue. Another revenue analysis pegs current monthly revenues at $7.5M. The newly announced

revenue-sharing model that rewards users who upload content, only serves to muddy the valuation picture even further.

A few notable statistics on YouTube at the time of the acquisition:
• Fastest growing website in Internet history
• On average 100 million videos streamed per day
• 65,000 new video clips are uploaded every day
• More than 13 million unique visitors per month. An average user spends 30 minutes on YouTube and most uploaders are repeat visitors themselves.
• 58% of Internet videos are watched on Youtube
• 20% to 30% of traffic volume is from the US
• Wide range of user demographics, however the largest segment of users is the 18 to 35 year-olds.
• 30% to 40% of the content is copyrighted. There is a clear correlation between eyeballs and copyrighted content.

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COMPARISON OF YOUTUBE WITH GOOGLE VIDEOS

[pic] LG PHONE AND YOUTUBE COMING TOGETHER
Ever heard of youTube phone or Google phone? Korean giant brand LG Electronics announced to the world of their partnership with Google their plan to develop YouTube optimised mobile phones. These youTube phones can have features such as letting users ready to shoot, view and upload videos directly to their youTube accounts easily.
The move by YouTube into alliances with mobile device makers is “a natural extension as handsets get more capable,” observed Michael McGuire, an analyst at industry research firm Gartner.
On one hand, he said, it will lead to new kinds of mobile-shot video, such as waves of YouTube clips from Spring Break in Florida. “Who needs Girls Gone Wild,” he asked, “when you have mobile phones with YouTube?”
On the other hand, he went on to say, the technology also will lead to a proliferation of cell-phone-based news gathering. “A lot of the first news images on the failed car bombings in the United Kingdom came from people with cell phones,” McGuire noted, adding that YouTube is becoming a de facto grassroots news source.
A YouTube-optimized phone might not only multiply the options for user-generated content, such as for grassroots news, but also create distribution options for professionals. YouTube is populated by professionally produced videos as well as amateur-created ones, and “YouTube phones” could open up a new market platform.
LG Electronics has tied up with video sharing website, YouTube, to allow LG handset users to view videos and upload YouTube videos, directly on the website. LG's YouTube-enabled handsets will be available worldwide starting at end of this year.
The mobile handset and electronics manufacturing company also revealed that it will apply a new user interface for easily accessing and uploading video content for the upcoming YouTube-enabled handsets.
Steve Chen, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer for YouTube said, "People want to be able to capture interesting moments with their cell phones wherever they are and whenever they want. We’re excited to be partnering with LG to give people the opportunity to enjoy YouTube for watching and sharing those moments."
LG is already in a non exclusive agreement with YouTube's parent company, Google, to pre-install Google's services on its handsets, effective from March 2007. As a first step in this partnership, LG

recently launched the LG-KS10, which features Google search, Gmail for mobile, and Google Maps for mobile.
The South Korean company is prepping the release of their LG KU990 touch screen phone that looks suspiciously like the iPhone - well, to be fair, it’s more like the LG Prada Phone. The 3-inch touchscreen looks nice and bright, reminding us of the iPhone “Dominator.” But, unlike the “Dominator,” we’re not looking for the KU990 to sport any Windows Mobile OS - but we do expect it to pack a whopping 5 megapixel camera, FM radio, MP3 player, microSD slot, and HSDPA(!). Buzz and hype point to this 3G phone actually being a YouTube phone - capable of not only playing YouTube videos, but also shooting, editing (with the pre-loaded Muvee video editing software), and uploading the videos for all the world to see.
A release window and price point is unavailable at this time. But, we are looking for a European launch, possibly on Vodafone, sometime later this year. If this is the LG YouTube phone that we mentioned a little while ago, then the release window is a little off the mark.
We’re really starting to see a lot of YouTube enabled phones! Could this be the next big thing in mobile phones? Are manufacturers just trying to one-up the Apple’s YouTube-less (aside from the limit, built-in YouTube player, and rumored Flash updates) iPhone? Maybe a little of both? Whatever it is, we sure are interested to see how these things actually perform with YouTube - especially if the handsets lack the HSUPA (high-speed upstream) connection that may be needed to make video uploads less-than-excruciating.

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YOUTUBE AND [pic]
With everyone focused on the incredibly expensive acquisition of YouTube by Google, attention once again drifted away from the Apple connection to Google and what may be the big long term plan jointly being executed by both companies. So let’s take a moment to lay it out.
The Next Generation of TV
TV started out being between the networks and the user and was for the most part advertising driven. With the advent of cable we began paying not only for the transport of the media but some of the media as well. This move to cable has been a mixed blessing at best. While we certainly get more content, and sometimes even better content, our cost for TV has gone up dramatically because we are now paying for something we effectively, originally, got for free.
Currently, advertisers appear to be moving away from TV advertising to the web where their audience increasingly is. More importantly, much of the content we want to watch is now on the web but we really don’t have a good way to find or watch it from a TV. Microsoft’s Media Center and Intel’s Viiv initiative have fallen way short of expectations and neither Tivo nor 3rd party PVR’s have successfully filled the gap either.
This leaves the door open to someone that can connect the dots between on-line rich content and the living room experience we seem to want, but are currently not getting.
So let’s look at what the combination of Google and Apple bring to the market. Apple has the upcoming iTV and a demonstrated capability of making the overall user experience vastly better than we have now. The iPod not only demonstrated that Apple understands what the market wants but that, even after Apple demonstrated the solution, that most competitors still don’t get what makes the iPod a success.
But Apple really doesn’t, by itself, have a good delivery or video file management system for the content already on the web. With YouTube, they get content and content management, and with Google they get access to the massive amount of dark fiber (high speed data lines that Google has purchased but which currently are not being used).

Between the two companies they have access to a massive amount of traditional TV and Movie content (the Achilles’ Heel of most other offerings) which can be pushed down these massive data pipes.

The resulting power of the combined entities could be enough to open up the other movie studios and accelerate the movements of the networks to provide their content libraries over this new service. Cable and DSL suppliers should not only be worried but Cisco and Microsoft as well because, should this be successful, Cisco and Microsoft’s efforts could be rendered obsolete.
Apple also announced it would be selling a version of Apple TV with much more storage capacity - 160GB, four times that of the current $299 model - for $399.

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APPLE iTV WITH YOUTUBE

VODAFONE IN DEAL TO CARRY YOUTUBE CLIPS
The mobile operator's tie-up is latest in a string of deals to bring internet brands to mobile handsets
Vodafone has announced a tie-up with YouTube, the video-sharing site owned by Google, in the latest in a string of deals to bring the web’s biggest brands to mobile handsets. The new service, which will be launched later this year, will allow users to browse and access a limited number of clips selected by YouTube, through the Vodafone Live! WAP portal. Vodafone said that YouTube, which is facing growing pressure from content owners over the huge volumes of pirated material available on its website, would be responsible for ensuring bootlegged clips were not shown on mobiles. Vodafone, which will offer the service in the UK before rolling it out across other European territories, is yet to decide on pricing. The mobile operator will have a period of exclusivity of “some months”, it said, suggesting that YouTube will seek to partner other mobile networks before the end of the year. The latest venture follows tie-ups between Vodafone with eBay, the online auction house, and MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times. In the US, YouTube signed a similar deal with Verizon Wireless in November, while MySpace is partnering AT&T's Cingular. Yesterday, Verizon also announced an agreement to offer ESPN sports coverage through its mobile network. Yahoo!, the internet giant, is making a big push into mobile services and is expected to announce a mobile social networking platform before the end of the year. Early demand for access to services such as eBay is thought to be healthy among mobile users, with the site already one of the most popular services among users of O2's i-mode mobile internet service, according to Ovum, the analyst. It added: “[Mobile] operators are now definitely working with the fact that many of their customers have strong loyalties to some of the big internet brands.” The most successful pricing model so far has been a fixed monthly subscription for each service. “Vodafone’s Sky TV service is priced that way, and has seen very good take-up,” the analysts said
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YOUTUBE PR: A BRIEF LOOK AT CAMPAIGN 2008

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YouTube (www.youtube.com) has set aside a section of its site for campaign 2008. In this section called “YouChoose ‘08”, YouTube has collected short videos from 15 presidential candidates. Each video is posted with the day the video was placed on the site and the number of times the video has been viewed. We examined the data for 20 of the most recent videos for each of three candidates – Barack Obama who joined 10 months before the analysis, Hillary Clinton who joined the site 11 months before the analysis, and John Edwards who had joined a year before. These are the three longest participants in You Tube among candidates listed. Data examination was done on July 3 and July 5, 2007. What surprises one immediately is the low viewership for most of the videos.

|CANDIDATE |NO. OF VIDEOS |AVG DAYS ON YOUTUBE |AVG NO. OF VIEWS |
|Edwards |20 |10 |1641 |
|Obama |20 |5 |359 |
|Clinton |20 |26 |2442 |

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HILLARY CLINTON OBAMA JOHN EDWARDS

The number of voters in the 2004 presidential election was 126 million. The number of registered voters in the US was close to 197 million. Something doesn’t compute. There appears to be more going on than lack of general interest in early stages of primary campaigning. The extent to which such videos have low viewership is emphasized by the fact that two Clinton videos were tied to a publicity stunt – selecting her campaign song – . which garnered high numbers. When those two videos are subtracted from the average, daily viewings of Clinton videos dropped to estimated 719, ahead of Obama but behind Edwards. This count does not include an independent video contribution from a young woman under the title, “I got a crush… on Obama.” This video clip scored an average daily viewership of 99,260 over 21 days. Nor does it include Hillary’s video that launched her campaign because it occurred well before the sampling period. All three candidates have posted clips from speeches and news events on YouTube. Clinton, however, used a successful publicity stunt to garner high viewership. Obama posted videos of campaign contributors that have garnered mostly low viewership. Edwards posted a mix of news and speechrelated videos and self-produced offerings. Political campaigners have been quick to adapt YouTube to their tactics, but the analysis indicates the public might not be ready for video campaign clips.In spite of mainstream media noting the rise of YouTube politics, outcomes thus far are less than what they are bruited to be. Viewership indicates that right now mostly loyal supporters are looking at most of the videos and probably, opposition researchers.
There are several possible reasons for low viewership. The simplest is that videos are not easy to find. One goes to YouTube, clicks “Channels” on a top tab, then clicks “YouChoose ’08” on the left hand menu column. However, that explanation is facile. There are only two steps to traverse to find the videos. It is difficult to believe that among millions of YouTube viewers only a handful daily

would discover the Channels tab and campaign link. A second explanation is that overall viewership for most of the videos on YouTube is low. There is truth to this in that hundreds of videos are posted to YouTube weekly and most get a low number of views. On the other hand, sorting YouTube for the most-watched videos, reveals that within a day, popular videos are viewed far more than 100,000 times – a rarity for the political videos examined. And, that is what happened with “I got a crush…on Obama” and Clinton’s campaign launch video. Another explanation is that YouTube is a new untested and untried technique. Campaigners are still trying to figure out what to do with the medium. There is a degree of truth to this explanation when one riffs through campaign video clips. Production is poor in several video clips, messages are presented by talking heads and repurposed news and speech clips are frequent. Hillary Clinton’s publicity stunt was a breakthrough in this regard. It used YouTube for well-produced viral videos that gained attention in traditional media and among YouTube watchers. Other candidates have yet to catch up. Still another explanation is that the populace doesn’t care much about political campaigns and campaign videos. This may be because of general apathy among citizens toward politics or because it is early in campaign 2008 and viewership will rise as the campaign heats up. This explanation is plausible. Voters in general are not greatly motivated by presidential primaries, especially since campaigns in a few states have until recently determined candidates for the general election without input from the most populous states.
This, however, will change in 2008 with primaries being moved up. It is too early to tell whether shifting primary dates will affect viewership on YouTube. A final explanation is that YouTube is the wrong forum for political videos. People are looking for entertainment and not serious discussion – e.g.,Hilary’s campaign song. This explanation is plausible when one looks at the range of videos posted online. Most are entertainment-oriented. That is certainly the case with “I’ve got a crush… on Obama.” It’s cheesecake, and it emphasizes that with an end title of “Barely Political” and web site that leads to enticing photos of the young woman selling “Crush on Obama” clothes. Few political videos reach the rank of “most viewed” or “most discussed.” That doesn’t mean, however, that YouTube is solely for ephemera.

COMPARISON OF YOUTUBE WITH OTHER VIDEO SHARING SITES

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CONCLUSION YouTube is a fast growing website which will continue to let users upload and watch videos online for free. It gets its revenue from advertisements and investing companies; financial experts argue that YouTube has a terrible implemented business models. However, YouTube continues to grow daily and it will soon reward users who upload creative videos. The future looks bright for YouTube, and it will remain a popular website for many years.

YouTube's "Hog Wild" approach to video may have robbed us all of some of the most creative and entertaining content ever created. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the things people create and share on these sites and would really miss their value. I know it is time for people on Web 2.0 to realize that just because we want something and can exert some power to get it does not mean it is either right or inevitable. The bottom line is that a win by the plaintiffs will make any site owner nervous about content in general. Web 2.0 is basically people and content (well and a few gadgets), limiting any element in this triangle is bad for business.

My conclusion about YouTube is they have a very good service in place for you, that doesn't break down on what must be a top visitor day today The quality of the sound is better than MPEG-1, but the sound lags behind the images.The image quality at YouTube is also good, but the frame rate is too low.

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ANNEXURE
Coming soon: YouTube’s India site

Philippines militants raise funds on YouTube: police

October 15, 2007
Sachin Kalbag, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, October 14, 2007
First Published: 04:16 IST(14/10/2007)
Last Updated: 04:23 IST(14/10/2007)
India’s contribution to YouTube’s global traffic is less than one per cent but that is not stopping the Google-owned video-sharing service to launch an India-specific website, according to a top YouTube executive.
“We plan to launch YouTube India anytime between January and March 2008,” said Shashi Seth, head of monetisation at the San Bruno, California-based YouTube. He spoke exclusively to Hindustan Times during his visit to India earlier this week.
YouTube India will aggregate Indian video content – specifically movie trailers, music videos, independent films and television content.
“YouTube.com has over 300,000 videos being uploaded every day,” Seth said. “Indian content obviously gets lost in this sea of videos. A YouTube.in site will help Indian surfers to get what they want. It will also be an excellent platform for young filmmakers to launch their work. All they have to do is create a channel to drive traffic to their videos.”
YouTube has already tied up with Eros Entertainment, a film production and distribution firm, to showcase its new releases, DVDs and other merchandise. “This is just the beginning,” Seth said. “Together with Google’s sales teams, YouTube’s India executives will scour the country for television content, music videos and also work with producers to make their products available for viewing.”
The possibilities are endless, especially for television production houses, according to Seth. “Television viewing in India is limited to just television, even though it is extremely vibrant. With YouTube, television production houses can internationalise their copyright content, even monetise it. Our advertising service will throw up region and topic-specific overlay ads on videos. This revenue will be shared with the copyright holder.”
YouTube charges $20 per for every 1,000 impressions internationally, but may have separate pricing for India.
Seth feels that with the rise of broadband penetration in India and viewership from India rising (a Rajinikanth video was recently ranked in the top 100 YouTube videos of all time), this is the right time to enter the market. “One of the key challenges will be to comply with the local laws in India, and we are making sure that our service does not violate any legal prerequisites,” Seth said.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:- ➢ GLOBAL INTERNET USERS ➢ GOOGLE ➢ USATODAY ➢ THE 100 BEST PRODUCTS 2006 ➢ THE YOUTUBE ELECTION

WEBSITES:- ➢ www.google.com ➢ www.youtube.com ➢ www.wikipedia.com ➢ www.pwc.com ➢ www.ask.com ➢ www.alexa.com