• by Shankar Gupta , June 15, 2005

Search giant Google is readying a new version of online video search that would enable both content publishers and consumers to submit their own video for indexing, a move that could significantly blur the barriers between professional and consumer generated video content. As part of the plan, which Google executives confirmed on Tuesday, the search engine also intends to make the video content it receives via its uploading service searchable. It also is mulling plans to offer streams of all or parts of the video from its own site, said a spokesman.

An instruction page for Google's current video service gives guidance on setting a fee for watching videos: "We suggest that you choose a fair price that you think users will pay to view your video content. Because you can change the price at any time, experiment and see what price brings you the most success."

The page also states that Google will take a "small" percentage of the fee--and might charge users extra if the files are especially large or popular.

But for Google, the real profit might be in the ability to stream online video ads. Charlene Li, an analyst for Forrester Research, said that major search engines are looking to get into video because of the potential to stream TV-like ads. "It's one of the hottest mediums around," she said. "If you can get video on your site, then you can put ads around it."

According to Li, the availability of more and more video content on the Web--along with the increasing access to high-speed Internet connections and advertisers' demand for video ad inventory on the Web--has created an ideal environment for search engines to get into video. After all, if users can't find the video in the first place, they can't watch it or the ads. "You have this sort of perfect storm happening, and you need search engines to get it all to come together," she said.