Google may be getting better at the whole Web video thing, writes
The New York Times. That followed the announcement of a deal with Viacom that lets AdSense publishers distribute clips from
programs like "Laguna Beach" and "SpongeBob SquarePants." Google is getting better at dealing with the producers of news and entertainment, the people who once complained that Google used their
content without appropriate consent. The AdSense test, which starts at the end of the month, allows publishers to redistribute content and then collect revenue from the video ads Google sells. It's
also a clever deal for Viacom, the
Times says, which wants to syndicate its content across the Web. Soon, Google hopes to allow any video programmer to use its system for syndication across the
massive AdSense network. Content owners, of course, would have to pre-approve every site that signs up to distribute its content. Just about everyone involved in online video hopes to cash in on its
widespread popularity. This could be a new way for copyright holders and distributors to make money together. "The content owners do the work," says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "Distribution businesses
should get a minority" of the ad revenue, "and the creator should get the majority." Schmidt would detail the specifics of the arrangement with Viacom. One executive says Viacom would receive more
than two-thirds of the revenue.
Read the whole story at The New York Times »
