YouTube competitors
YouTube's business model of combining a vast network, an attentive audience and a search-able wealth of information and entertainment has put them at the forefront of media attention in the business of video entertainment. YouTube and Google provide the majority of Internet videos, over 14 billion per month, beating the closest competitor by more than 10 times (Flosi, 2010). YouTube and its competitors such as Yahoo videos and Hulu (YouTube Competitors, n. d.) all primarily drive their revenue from targeted advertising. (See the advertising section for more information.)
YouTube and its competitors such as Yahoo videos and Hulu (YouTube Competitors, n. d.) all primarily drive their revenue from targetted advertising. Here's a look at their homepages for comparison.
(YouTube - Broadcast Yourself., 2010) | (Yahoo! Video - It's On, 2010) | (Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free., 2010)
Key differences between YouTube and Hulu
Hulu has focused on commercially produced video content and has partnered with the rights owners in order to legally stream the material over the internet. Hulu, like YouTube, profits from advertising (Hulu - Media FAQ, 2010). However, Hulu more closely resembles a replication of television advertising formats than YouTube does. Hulu's advertisers can target specific, known content they want to be associated with (Reisinger, 2008). YouTube must rely on keyword relations and is technically advertising on unknown, user-generated content that may be irrelevant or even adversely related to the material (Reisinger, 2008).
Hulu also offers a subscription-based product that offers archived, historical access to television material. However this service also operates on advertising revenue (in addition to the subscription price) and has come under scrutiny for offering users little incentive to switch to the paid model (Slattery, 2010).
Another significant difference is that YouTube is able to stream their content internationally. User generated content released freely on YouTube can legally be shown on to international YouTube visitors. This is an advantage over the Hulu television network-created content that has strict regulations for each country.
Other Competitors
YouTube also competes with other, companies which are not primarily internet companies. A good example is Netflix in the United States, a service for renting DVD content via the mail, who also have online streaming options available for televisions and gaming consoles. This is a natural competitor to video on demand services offered by cable television companies, but in fact competes with the ability of Hulu or potentially YouTube to present streaming content from commercial DVD releases.
The YouTube Advantage
What YouTube has that these other competitors do not offer is social networking, an ability to visualise the knowledge of the internet (Rifkin, 2001) and a constant stream of unique, cheap content. YouTube increases the amount of time that is spent on their site through the use of networking features. Users are able to share content, respond to content with additional content and mix together videos to create even more content. In this way the social networking functionality contributes both to the time spent on site (and therefore advertising impressions) and secondly works to increase the available material. These are symbiotic relationships that contribute to the value of the site as a whole.
YouTube is a business that thrives on the availability of huge quantities of content. In this way it directly benefits from huge numbers of network users, providing they are generating content that is worthwhile rather than overflowing the site with worthless videos. However, although YouTube content is readily available and cheap, automating the advertising revenue from this unknown content is a difficult process.
