Google should use its acquisition of YouTube to make its video search feature better. This is one facet of search that its rivals do better, so as multimedia consumption becomes a more pivotal part of the Web experience, "Google cannot afford to rest on its laurels." Its complicated algorithms have allowed Google to excel in text-based Web search--it controls more than 51 percent of the search market--but comScore numbers say its homegrown video offering, Google Video, ranks fifth--behind Yahoo Video, News Corp.'s MySpace, YouTube and MSN Video. Video, as Jeffries & Co. analyst Youssef Squali says, is still …

The YouTube acquisition broadens the horizon somewhat for Google in its relationship with sites like News Corp.'s MySpace. In fact, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and vice president of ad sales Tim Armstrong are set to meet with News Corp. executives this week to discuss new ways of working together. Fox Interactive President Ross Levinsohn confirmed the visit, saying: "If we can figure out the ways to work with them or integrate with them, that could be really good for us." Google only just reached a landmark search agreement with the News Corp. social network. Under that deal, Google …

Multitasking, Web-savvy Generation Y (1982-2000) has surpassed the baby boomers as the most influential generation for retailers. New research from online marketer Kelly Mooney, released today at the National Retail Federation, shows that 13- to-21-year-olds influence 81 percent of their families' apparel purchases and 52 percent of their car purchases. At 82 million people, Gen Y is the biggest generation. Its members have strong spending power, and stronger opinions at an early age. According to Mooney's research, nothing turns these young consumers off to a brand more than slow Web sites, a dismissive sales staff and free shipping that …

Google has married its Writely and Google Spreadsheets programs to create something that doesn't quite add up to a Microsoft Office, but it has made strides forward, and it's free. The new, publicly available Google Docs and Spreadsheets ("Writely" is now called "Docs") lets you create word documents and spreadsheets from one interface, where you can tag and sort them as you choose. "It's a big improvement," says CNET blogger Rafe Needleman. One of the cooler features about Docs and Spreadsheets is the ability of groups to edit documents. Collaborators on a spreadsheet can work together and chat in …

There's only one thing on the mind of news outlets covering Internet media today: What are the implications of Google taking over YouTube? After sweeping pronouncements by Google and YouTube reps about how the deal turns them both into a global powerhouse, where's the substance/ More importantly, what's the risk? "Video is a great medium for advertising, and from that point of view, we are really excited about YouTube," Google co-founder and chief technology officer Sergey Brin said on yesterday's conference call. "It is hard for me to imagine a better fit for a company." Clearly, Google sees an …

Steve Hurley, CEO of newly acquired Google unit YouTube, talked to the Financial Times a couple of weeks ago. Here are some highlights. The paper asked Hurley what the difference is between YouTube and Napster, the peer-to-peer file sharing site that made stealing music seamless and ubiquitous. "I think it's not even a close comparison," he said. "Napster was a black market for music. Ninety-nine per cent of the music that people were downloading was illegal because they didn't have the rights for it. [Most YouTube content is] people taking clips from their cell phones and cameras, and news-breaking events." …

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Steve Chen and Chad Hurley yesterday, immediately following the disclosure that YouTube had been purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in stock. Why did Hurley and Chen finally bow to the takeover interest after maintaining they wanted to build YouTube from the ground up? "What really helped accelerate discussions was the opportunity to operate independently," Hurley said. "It will allow me and Steve to sharpen our focus for our community and for our partners, [and] to have the resources and experience of Google with us." This means Hurley and Chen will basically continue …

"Call it Google Sprawl," says The New York Times. The moniker doesn't necessarily refer directly to Google's acquisition of YouTube yesterday. Online video isn't new territory for the Web giant. The issue is a perennial concern for Google: The task of staying the course with a multiplicity of unfinished products. Even before its 2004 initial public offering, Google's strategy has been one of deploying sets of engineering teams to create new products without actually finishing them. In fact, most of Google's products are still in what's called "beta" or test phase. Just last week, founders Sergey Brin, Larry Page …

In non-Google or YouTube related news, VNU, the owner of Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Nielsen's family of media-research companies, yesterday bought out the remaining stake in Internet market research firm NetRatings, Inc. The Dutch holding company already owns 60.5 percent of the New York-based firm, which monitors Internet traffic under the combined brand Nielsen/NetRatings. VNU offered to pay $16 per share to acquire the minority interest of NetRatings, which has about 36 million shares outstanding. VNU is owned by a group of private-equity investors, including Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Shares of NetRatings rose …

If the U.S. is cracking down on online gambling, what's the ad fallout? There may be no way to accurately quantify, given that the many online casino and sports betting marketers used a tangled Web of third-party ad networks and affiliates to put their ads in front of American consumers. But there is no question that the passage of stiff legislation forbidding credit-card companies from processing payments from online gambling companies will have a detrimental effect on spending in that sector. International outfits like 888 Holdings and PartyGaming, the entities behind PartyPoker.com and PartyCasino.com, have officially closed their doors …