YouTube is the most trafficked online video site in the world, one of the most trafficked Web sites of any kind in the world, and one of the most recognized names on the Internet. All of which clearly qualifies the site to be labeled a technology failure.
Time Magazine = Fail
It’s inconceivable to me that Time magazine has decided to include YouTube in their list of ‘The 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade‘. YouTube may not be the shining star in the world of online video it once was but to place it alongside luminaries such as Microsoft Vista, HD DVD, and the Segway seems a truly bizarre turn of events.
Douglas A. McIntyre is the writer/pundit/hack (take your pick) that chose to place YouTube in this list. He normally writes for 24/7 Wall St. but Time magazine clearly thought he’d be the right man for the job of compiling a list of the biggest failures in the world of technology over the last few years.
One Stick To Beat With
Reading his entry on YouTube it soon becomes clear he has only one stick to beat YouTube with and that is profit. He rightly points out that the site is not profitable, never has been, and possibly never will be. We’ve covered YouTube’s struggles to increase revenue and turn a profit in some detail over the last couple of years so cannot fault that argument.
McIntyre points to a report by Credit Suisse at the beginning of April which calculates that YouTube is set to make a loss of $471 million over the course of 2009. The site is on course to generate $240 million in revenue but due to the costs associated with running such a site coming to something like $711 million the numbers will still be negative.
Profit Vs. Everything Else
However, is profit the real test of success or failure? It obviously is in many walks of life, with businesses which are making a loss usually not lasting long in this world, but YouTube isn’t just an ordinary business. For starters, it is owned by Google, a company with more money coming in than it knows what to do with, so is one non-profitable site such a huge problem for the search giant?
YouTube has changed the face of popular entertainment and set the benchmark which all other online video sites have had to try and beat. Some, such as Hulu, have managed that, at least in being able to broadcast premium content and grab advertising dollars into the bargain. But even Hulu cannot compete for viewer figures and likely never will.
Conclusions
YouTube’s contribution to the Internet and the new media world cannot be contested by anyone. And that alone is enough to ensure the site doesn’t belong anywhere near a list of failures such as this one. Lest we forget too that unlike many of its fellow inductees to this hall of fame, YouTube is still very much alive and kicking.
