by Search Copywriter
Y. Sulaiman
As the world buzzes over Microsoft's pledge to create a rival to internet video service, YouTube, another important development in the world of internet broadcasting has been all but forgotten: Current TV, a media company founded by former US Vice-President turned environmental warrior, Al Gore, has joined forces with search engine Yahoo! to create the Yahoo!Current Network, an online viral video forum which will combine both professional and amateur videos submitted by users.Y. Sulaiman
Current TV essentially bases itself around current events, dividing its schedule into small chunks, or 'pods' that are each a few minutes long. Uniquely, most of these pods are submitted by users; anyone can upload their video, subsequently enabling all Current TV members to vote on whether or not it should be broadcast. This is clearly a great example of democracy at work on the internet; and with the online video audience exploding by the minute (last week, bigmouthmedia's very own video was rated 24th on YouTube), the programme is proving to be a revolutionary medium in which bloggers and aspiring journalists can voice their opinions.
In joining forces with Yahoo!, Current TV intends to spend more time monitoring its video content and weeding out copyrighted or offensive material in an effort to make the hot trend of viral videos more attractive to advertisers. Indeed, each pod that is broadcast on the Yahoo! Current Network will be preceded by a 15-30 second advertisement, commencing Yahoo!'s incorporation of commercials with user-submitted content.
But the deal between Current TV and Yahoo! is most notable because, to date, Al Gore has generally been seen as one of the top advisers to Yahoo!'s main rival in the search engine market, Google. Google has even provided content for regular features on Current TV in the past - content which has allowed the Current community to gain insight into the public's internet searches. While Mr. Gore has remained diplomatic in praising both Yahoo! and Google as "great companies", he also added the following:
"Yahoo! is very different from Google. Yahoo! for a long time has been much more in the media space."
So far, Google has refused to comment on Mr. Gore's new partnership with Yahoo!; but it is clear that as the number of users on services like YouTube, Google Video and Yahoo Video continue to rise, the world of online video broadcasting will continue to be a vital battleground for search engines and online video providers.
The Yahoo! Current Network, launched on the 20th of September, 2006, currently has four channels under its belt, including Yahoo! Current Action, Current Buzz (edited by a former producer of "The Daily Show with John Stewart"), Current Driver and Current Traveller. Each channel aims to broadcast one professionally produced video everyday, as well as eight to ten pods submitted by users. Among the first submissions to be screened are "Star Wars Kid" - a retrospective which also happens to be one of 2003's hottest viral videos - as well as "A Day in the life of The Edge", a featured celebrity submission in which U2 front man Bono takes a break from his hectic schedule of charity work to persuade his more elusive band mate to give us a tour around his Miami mansion.
