Many in the television industry have been understandably nervous about this move, sparking fears that Google is seeking to become the "online equivalent of a television network". In response to these claims however the director was quick to reassure those of a nervous disposition that "We [at Google] do not want to aggregate [online video content]." Google, it seems, had originally started its video service to help people who currently don't have the facility to post video content online. Now they have evolved to the point where they would like to link to other people's sites, hence the expansion. In true Google fashion the director ended the discussion reiterating the company mantra - "It's all about helping people find that content." Of course it is...
The current Google Video service indexes and searches content hosted on its own servers but does not yet allow users to find content on other personal sites or popular video hosting sites such as YouTube (www.youtube.com). This expansion is, in a sense, riding the wave of the handheld video generation that was very much pioneered by videophones, mp3 players and PDAs. Content for downloads is currently not as widely available in the UK as it is in the United States, so many of us are stuck watching pop music videos and movie trailers for upcoming blockbuster releases.
Google are not the only online media company looking to make video readily available to the army of users patiently waiting to make use of their handheld video services - promised since their invention but not delivered. Others in the mix include Sling Media (www.slingmedia.com), MTV Overdrive (www.mtv.com / overdrive) and, naturally, iTunes (www.apple.com / itunes).
The general consensus at the recent Churchill Club roundtable discussion (www.churchhillclub.org) in San Francisco, frequented by the major players in the online video industry, seemed to be that in most cases these video platforms would simply be used to push current TV content onto the internet. Jennifer Feiken went as far as saying that Google "doesn't even want to be in the online video hosting business,". Google apparently just wants to focus on indexing online video, only hosting because "no-one else will". There is, of course, money to be made from this through online advertising space but as yet not even the major players know in what direction online video is to go. It remains to be seen if this arena will indeed be the new 'New Media' cash cow of the 21st century, but undoubtedly it will produce a fresh generation of entrepreneurial online businesses looking to make use of the ever expanding usefulness of the internet.
