Could monetizing rather than removing copyrighted clips prove to be a solution to both the ‘Viacom issue’ and YouTube’s failure to earn the money that its traffic suggests should be possible.
The Viacom Lawsuit
The problem of copyrighted clips appearing on YouTube is a long-standing and controversial one. The problem so irritated Viacom that it launched a $1 billion lawsuit against the company.
Part of that lawsuit suggested that YouTube didn’t do enough to prevent copyrighted video from appearing on the site, and that once it did, not enough was done to remove it.
Video ID System
This lead YouTube to introduce the Video ID system last year which allowed content owners to quickly and easily check the digital fingerprints of their material with videos uploaded to YouTube.
If a company finds a match then it has the option to issue a DMCA takedown to have the offending video removed from the site. But there is another option, and it’s one that is growing in popularity amongst media companies.
Monetize Not Kill
This secondary option is to monetize the offending clip, with adverts added to the video. Any revenue garnered from the move is then split between YouTube and the media company which owns the original copyright.
According to The New York Times, this practice has gained considerable ground in the months since the Video Identification system was put in to place.
Big Names Behind The Move
CBS, Universal Music, Lionsgate, and Electronic Arts are amongst the big-name companies choosing to make some money from the attempts at piracy rather than universally stopping it in its tracks.
Curt Marvis, the president of digital media at Lionsgate Entertainment said:
“We don’t want to condone people taking our intellectual property and using it without our permission. But we also don’t like the idea of keeping fans of our products from being able to engage with our content.”
“For the most part, people who are uploading videos are fans of our movies. They’re not trying to be evil pirates, and they’re not trying to get revenue from it.”
Some Still Holding Out
Apart from the advertising, a small disclaimer is usually added to the video to notify viewers who owns the copyright. YouTube claims that 90% of the videos caught using the Video ID system now remain on the site with adverts attached.
Not all companies are on board, with Viacom sticking to its hard line. Conglomerates such as Time Warner and News Corps are testing the platform, while NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Company are choosing to direct viewers to their own video sites instead.
A Solution For All
This is a good move on the part of the companies choosing to embrace rather than rally against the new technology. If more media organisations took the same line then YouTube could start to flourish as a business.
The site may have by far the largest number of viewers but has so far struggled to successfully monetize enough videos to warrant the $1.65 billion price that Google paid for it. Maybe this trend could change that?
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