YouTube didn’t make any friends this week when it suspended countless accounts because users had links to content owned by CBS or its parent Viacom. In an effort to appease content owner and advertiser CBS/Viacom, YouTube sent out notices to users informing them that they are in violation of YouTube policy of broadcasting copyrighted materials and their accounts would be suspended. The problem was, even though users did have content owned by CBS on their YouTube accounts, they weren’t in violation of YouTube’s policy. YouTube’s policy states that the company will warn users twice before suspending their account. Unfortunately, YouTube pulled the plug after sending out only one letter.
YouTube is not making any friends lately. That is why today is a perfect day for a competitor to launch. The site Veoh launched today and like metacafe, Veoh will pay content providers based on performance for hosting content on their site. Veoh which has been in beta for 18 months, claims that their videos are full screen, DVD quality and the videos will be longer and they aim for a more professional quality. Veoh will also have editing and post tools that YouTube doesn’t have. It’s also worth noting that former Disney Chairman is a Veoh investor.
On another note of innovation, blip.tv has a new tool that will allow users to include their own clickable links to the end of their own content. So say Dennis Kucinich embeds a campaign video on his site. At the end of the ad, Kucinich can say, "now that you’ve watched my video, you can click here to donate." This feature allows a direct call to action from webvideo that hasn’t been utilized before.
Since its acquisition by Google in the fall, YouTube really hasn’t been innovative, creative or Google-like. For some reason Google and video are like oil and water, they don’t mix. Check out Veoh or Revver or blip.tv for better alternatives to YouTube.
