Big media may be frustrating YouTube's efforts to license their content, so parent Google has responded by shifting its strategy somewhat. Big media deals are still on its radar, including one with
the BBC, but Google's new goal is to add more than 200 small media partnerships per quarter.
A few of the smaller partnerships have already been announced, including the National
Basketball Association and the English soccer club Chelsea FC. In both deals, the organizations get their own channels where they can post clips, while letting users upload their own videos. On
Tuesday, Google announced a deal with the independent record label Wind-Up Records, which allows users to stream music videos and incorporate artists' songs into their own clips.
Thus
far, YouTube says most of its licensing deals have been kept under wraps. The company has secured more than 1,000 partnerships with content owners, ranging from the Sundance Channel to independent
video producers. Analysts say it's far easier for YouTube to persuade the little guys to license their content than NBC and Viacom, which are used to huge ad deals from content. They're also guarded
about giving up control to a site that empowers users to play with their content.
Read the whole story at The New York Times »