The New York Times reported over the weekend that Google Is Closing Its Video Retailing Operation.
The company will stop offering download-to-own and download-to-rent programs on Wednesday, according to an e-mail message sent to customers yesterday. Google started selling shows like ”Survivor” in January 2006.Google’s decision to close the retail part of its video site indicates the company had less success selling content than attracting advertising spending, which accounts for 99 percent of revenue. The purchase of YouTube, where the videos are all free, catapulted Google from seventh to first among video-sharing providers on the Web.
WebmasterWorld has been buzzing a bit about the news. Some question why Google pulled it. Was it a lack of inventory to sell? Was it just that they were not selling enough to make it worth while? Was it a technical issue? Was it a legal problem?
Member, GibberGibber asks:
I personally wonder if we'll see these video sales start to appear on YouTube instead of Google Video. YouTube is a much stronger brand than Google Video, people associate YouTube with videos whereas Google's image is still mainly one of text-based searches.
I am not sure about that.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
