YouTube, where is the cow?
YouTube, where is the cow?-
-
Where is the YouTube cow and what are the hidden worries? On the outside, YouTube is a content channel, but the opposite of supporting huge traffic is the technical talent, advertising system, and negative hardware and resources of Google and YouTube
Most important are the huge planning advantages brought about by the global business, and the profitability of declining marginal costs
Since YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006, many Chinese companies want to do the Chinese version of YouTube
Video channels at that time, such as Potato and Youku, initially explored the YouTube way for a decade, until 2016, when the UGC, was thrown away and the policy was shifted to Netflix
In 2016, Weibo proposed to transform China's Twitter, into a Chinese version of YouTube, and initially tested the waters with a short video
Litchi, an audio channel, also said that it was an audio version of China's YouTube;B station, and Watermelon Video also told the story of China's version of YouTube
Recently, iqiyi has made a preliminary foray into video, looking like YouTube
Although the domestic audio and video profession on the YouTube way of testing has never been suspended, but fundamentally fruitless
YouTube is the largest video website in the world, ranking third in terms of traffic, second only to Facebook and Google
The number of visits by YouTube's registered users is basically stable at more than 1
8 billion per month
In 2019, YouTube ranks first in the list of global video streaming users watching moments, beating Tencent News, Tencent Video, iqiyi, Watermelon Video and so on
In the individual comparison of the top five video sites, YouTube accounts for 70% of the total moments of the top five applications
Recently, Google showed YouTube earnings data to the public for the first time
In fiscal year 2019, YouTube's advertising revenue alone reached $15
15 billion (excluding non-advertising revenue such as subscription revenue), an increase of 35
8% over last year and more than 85% over 2017
Its revenue accounts for 9 per cent of Google's parent Alphabet's annual revenue and more than 20 per cent of total US television advertising spending of $70 billion in 2019
As an undisputed super way, YouTube is becoming an important addition engine for Google in the future
The start-up story of "earning 13 billion in 20 months" Jenny Jackson staged "Milk leakage" in the Super Bowl on February 1, 2004, and video clips went viral online
But many people can't see the video on the phone, send e-mail or surf the Internet
There are also people who encounter amazing assignments like the tsunami, but can't share the video
About the hope of video sharing, and the agony of not having easy access to video,Three young people who are equally troubled by PayPal
Javed Karim wanted to watch a video of an unattended party, which was emailed by Chen Shijun and Chad Hurley
However, because the files are too large, emails are always returned, and it is also difficult to verify that video is delivered online
So the two initially discussed together in Hurley's garage and decided to work out a simpler solution
In this way, in February 2005, YouTube came into being, which means "your TV" (Americans call it Tube)
YouTube is born out of a very valuable opportunity
At the beginning of 2005, broadband was initially extensive, Flash technology had a 75% market share in this year, and video recording technology and equipment were also initially extensive
YouTube is like a spring breeze
After all, video content has stronger vitality and mobility than text
Hurley worked as CEO, at YouTube
He was the chief planner of PayPal in his early years, so he was satisfied with web planning
Chen Shijun is in charge of the technical development of YouTube
YouTube's first film was uploaded by Karim on April 23, 2005 and is only 19 seconds long
In the film, Karim stands in front of an elephant at the San Diego Zoo in California and says, "these guys have long noses
So cool
" All three founders joined Paypal, in their early years, and they all had no doubt that the user was God's product
Paypal makes online payments simple and feasible, and YouTube wants to make video sharing easier
In May, YouTube abandoned the direction of making and dating and changed it to a content-centered approach
In June, YouTube planned the website's launch strategy from scratch: inventing a video sharing approach; adding content seen by users through relevant video referrals; encouraging users to communicate and add video to talk about functions; and providing video reposting code with one click to share
Through technical conquest, YouTube supports the upload and playback of various types of video files, where users are free to share their own websites, and videos can be seamlessly linked to any web page
Some people think that the "open quote" of YouTube is suicide because users can view its content without having to log in
But YouTube doesn't see it that way
they think that allowing customers to transfer videos everywhere is a sign of respect for the needs of users
What's more, it is still a good free advertisement, and even has the effect of virus transmission
In addition, YouTube did not have an interactive diplomatic chain at that time, so it had to be thoroughly opened in order to borrow the power of other diplomatic channels
YouTube also plans to embed players, lowering the threshold for users to watch videos
Many ways use YouTube as their video hosting service forThe way brings a lot of traffic
In 2005, the diplomatic website MySpace was very popular, and many users put YouTube content on the page
MySpace was aware of the threat and stopped this behavior, causing a lot of opposition from users
UGC roads and viral communication bring explosive additions to YouTube
The Tag (tagging), sharing, talking, subscribing, grouping and other social service functions of videos on YouTube websites constitute a video SNS (social network service) system, which connects people through video content
Since then, the characteristics of YouTube social media have become more and more clear
In August 2005, YouTube's first full-time employee, the brother of one of the founders, Hurley, raised Sequoia Capital's first round of angel funding of $3
5 million for them
This year, they will be holding a lot of cash advertisers shut out, all the energy, turned to technical security and page planning, forward user experience
In the past, people shared video, which led to the downtime of the policy website, which never happened again
Under the UGC strategy of "sharing" instead of "publishing" video, YouTube is sensitive and robust, and it has become a free repository of memories and a place for publishing books
Data from May 2006 showed that YouTube accounted for the largest market share of American online video sites (42
9%), almost double the second place MySpace video proportion (24
2%), and more than the video proportion of the four major portals combined (Yahoo! + the total of Microsoft MSN+Google+AOL is 29
6%)
But with the upload of users, the copyright problem surfaced
The huge challenge to the traditional media makes the living environment of YouTube very difficult, and copyright complaints continue
In addition, with the continuous expansion of the number of YouTube users, high broadband spending poses a huge financial pressure
The US $8 million capital injection for the second tranche obtained in April is simply not enough to burn
And because of the user-made content, advertisers think that there is no delivery value, and the company's cash flow is almost cracked
Survival became the first choice of YouTube at that time
At that time, Softbank Corp
, yahoo and News Corp
all discussed acquisitions with YouTube in their early years
In October 2006, Google acquired YouTube at a price of $1
65 billion (13
2 billion yuan)
It was Google's biggest acquisition in its eight-year history, when YouTube employed only 30 people
In just 20 months, three young men invented a $1
65 billion business legend
And YouTube embarked on a new journey with Google
2 find the right person, preliminary second halfGoogle's acquisition of YouTube is a wonderful story
Since the news of Google's imminent acquisition of YouTube, Google's share price has risen 2% on the same day
Together with the business, the rise for two consecutive business days has added nearly $4 billion to Google's market capitalization
That's more than twice what Google paid for YouTube
Some people say that Google bought YouTube with Wall Street money
With regard to the largest search innovation company and the largest video access, the combination of the two really complement each other
The secret of Google's success is that it has its own set of ways to attract users to participate; Google provides content that not only satisfies users' curiosity, but also attracts them to visit
This secret of success is always changing and will never be revealed
But these tricks, along with huge traffic tilts, are bound to be supplied to YouTube for free
Entering the Google system, YouTube has also alleviated the urgent need for funds
In addition to the funding problem, YouTube's biggest problem is a lot of copyright litigation
With the support of Google, YouTube successively reached content licensing and maintenance agreements with records around the world, Warner Music and CBS, alleviating the copyright crisis
In terms of technology, relying on "Google Brain", YouTube has a robust way to analyze, find, and personalize the ability to recommend; in terms of drainage, relying on Google's robust search and recommendation, Google family bucket pre-installed products and other drainage methods, YouTube has been added at a high speed
Because there is no way to thoroughly control the uploading of users' content, the problem of infringement and pornography of YouTube is once very serious
In 2007, YouTube launched the copyright Filter system, automatically deleting copyright clips, so that channels, users have greater assurance and freedom
YouTube also offers online fixes, where users can modify videos online and share content with one click
YouTube's login logic, subscription logic, search logic and sharing logic all rely on the recommendation algorithm
Its machine learning and artificial intelligence technology can even finish directed acquisition of new users
Under the blessing of Google, YouTube has always been in the international leading level in the research of streaming media technology
But the explosive power produced by the combination of the two is much more than that
Google's products at that time are now globalized
The first task for YouTube to participate in Google is to translate himself into all kinds of languages and promote them all over the world
In addition to where the demand processing server is, they also need to study the laws of various countries to avoid the trouble caused by cultural differences
Google is a perfect guide in this process
2007In September, YouTube entered more than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Australia
In May 2010, YouTube received more than 2 billion page views a day, making it the three major broadcasting services in the United States combined
The video uploaded by YouTube users in 60 days is longer than the 60-year-old content of the three major broadcast services
The YouTube website can also be automatically translated into 51 languages, making it sensitive and extended around the world
With the addition of a large number of users around the world, the broadband cost that made it difficult for YouTube in the early years is bound to rise
At a time when outsiders are suspicious of YouTube's ugly financial data, YouTube tells the outside world that bandwidth pricing "does not apply to me"
In the past, Google bought some optical fibers funded by telecom companies but not put into use, commonly known as "dark fiber" in the industry
Google can not only use optical fiber to send data around the world, but also use these optical fibers to sign broadband communication agreements with other ISP
As a result, Google's broadband cost is almost zero, and the total cost is only the depreciation of optical fiber and routers
So the amazing bandwidth cost calculated according to the traditional way does not exist in YouTube
And, in February 2010, Google acquired On2, a well-known video compression technology manufacturer in the United States, by exchanging shares to help YouTube further reduce broadband costs
In 2013, in order to advance the service speed of YouTube and Gmail in the greater Asia-Pacific region, Google further reduced its cost by building data centers in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore
After Google acquired YouTube, in June 2011, Google established a combination of Google+, and Google+, to give Google a diplomatic function
With the ever-expanding business segment of Google, the combination of the two makes YouTube invincible
It is the blessing of Google that makes the success of YouTube a lot of non-copycat
It is naturally very difficult to build a YouTube, on your own
Commercialization: the pain of YouTube and the coming 2007, the video of Justin Bieber's role on YouTube became popular
YouTube shows people's desire to show, share, worship and reject "boredom"
A lot of video enthusiasts flocked to YouTube, and so did the keen politicians
In addition to the British royal family to open a YouTube account, Obama even initially through YouTube to help the 2008 presidential campaign, YouTube's social influence is evident
With the increase in the number of users, YouTube websites that shared home videos in their early years have been transformed into mainstream entertainment providers
It initially cooperates with relevant arrangements, with emphasis on both individual and content production
2007In May, YouTube launched a revenue reward program that would repay users about a few thousand dollars if the video was played more than a million times
There are a lot of content producers, and as a result, they have reached more than a million dollars in revenue
The dividend of advertising revenue is the primary profit way of YouTube, and the dividend with users' content encourages more professional video photographers to enter
YouTube constitutes a complex content ecology, which looks like an individual professional producer, constantly delivering content to channels and getting dividends
In fact, these producers converge under various MCN arrangements
These MCN arrangements are created by experienced Hollywood producers and have the functions of content management, star business, advertising agency, etc
, and share out dividends in proportion to the income and content producers and channels
In this way, YouTube can get a share of every income of content producers, and then form a positive cycle
Before the acquisition of YouTube, Google bidding advertising system AdWords is now an efficient money printing machine, and has long been familiar with the algorithm optimization and click-through rate prediction model of bidding advertising
After being acquired by Google, YouTube also made a preliminary bid to find the way to rank, to earn video implementation fees
In addition, YouTube also provides advertising space for advertisers in the center of the home page
And through the official brand channels, the supply of video distribution channels, user data analysis, charge for value-added services
Since 2008, YouTube has launched an e-commerce dividend service, in which users watch videos and click the buy button at the bottom of the screen, and YouTube gets the corresponding dividend
By providing users with long-term video rental services, open cooperation with the world, Sony, Warner Brothers and other copyright holders to broaden the distribution channels of copyright owners
On this basis, YouTube initially explores the pay channel business
After being acquired in 2006, YouTube still maintains an independent operating team
However, under the high cost of channels and user operation and maintenance, it is still not profitable until 2010
Subsequently, Google announced its high-end vice president Saglar Kamanga as YouTube CEO, to promote YouTube business in an all-round way
Kamanga has made an outstanding contribution to the monetization of Google's products, announcing Google's landmark marketing AdWord
After Kamanga entered YouTube, he led the page revision of YouTube, changing the mess of the content
In 2011, Google invested $100m to strengthen the construction of original content in YouTube
YouTube has added more than 100 channels to cover up sports events, audio-visual entertainment and other content
Through the rich content system, so that advertising has a more accurate positioning, and then forward advertising revenue to recover funds
He's still flipping
In collaboration with professional media, YouTube provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support to media companies and celebrities in October 2012 to help them produce high-quality programs and boost advertising revenue
Together, we have enhanced the scope of advertising business and explored more ways to make money, such as participatory video advertising and brand channels (brands use advertising as content to attract users to participate in interaction), traditional agreement dividend methods (advertising revenue is shared with content providers), adsence (content and channels with advertising), text (on-screen comment) advertising, and so on
The company's profits have made unprecedented progress
However, because of UGC content, attraction and quality and other reasons to attract advertisers, compared with large-scale variety shows, it is still a far cry
This has become a bottleneck restricting the advertising business of YouTube
In December 2010, Google launched Tureview advertising, which became a "lifesaver"
YouTube set a precedent of "5 seconds can pass advertising", by selling effective advertising, to advance the real and useful exposure of advertising
Advertisers do not need to pay for over-advertising, providing advertisers with a more friendly experience in ROI accounting and budget control
In the ranking of advertising bidding, advertisers with high completion rate will be more popular with YouTube, because it means higher revenue
After all, Google's huge advertiser plan is enough to support it to form a long bidding line
Therefore, advertisers will try their best to optimize their advertising materials and advance the completion rate
Opel also won the prize at the Cannes Advertising Festival for its "interaction" with YouTube ad buttons
Together in the scope of business, YouTube also continues to expand its business map
In 2012, YouTube launched the pairing of televisions and mobile devices and entered the TV business
Let the audience find the video they want to watch on the mobile device and put it on the TV
In September, YouTube launched a mobile client, with more than 1 billion visitors a day, accounting for 25 per cent of its total traffic
The client includes advertising functions, and these people become contributors to advertising clicks
The commercial value of YouTube has greatly advanced
In 2018, YouTube video bloggers showed a trend of productivity and specialization
More than 1 million bloggers are the way to fill in high-quality content, with top production teams in the meantime
Through the continuous expansion of the business boundaries of paid subscription services such as YouTube Premium, YouTube games, YouTube music and YouTube TV, YouTube's monthly active users and business value have made unprecedented progress
In May 2019, Vevo, an online music video site made up of the three record giants Worldwide, Warner and Sony, announced to YouTubeYield
All of its music videos are settled in YouTube channels, shutting down its own mobile and website businesses together
The super pathway effect of YouTube constitutes a challenge to practitioners in many subdivided fields to varying degrees
Of course, YouTube is not without problems
Although high-quality content has a high number of broadcasts and subscriptions, many long-tailed content can not be usefully distributed
Its copyright Filter system also has a great negative impact on the content production of users
In September 2019, YouTube was fined $170 million for illegally collecting personal information about children and profiting from it
All kinds of words brought about by the recent epidemic are even more worrying for YouTube
YouTube has advertising revenue of $15
15 billion in 2019, and it earns less than $8 a year from each of its users
By comparison, Facebook's advertising revenue in 2019 is estimated at $67
25 billion
Facebook's 2
45 billion monthly active users are 36% higher than YouTube, but advertising revenue is 343
9% higher
For YouTube, there is still a way to go
Conclusion through 13 years of development, YouTube has fundamentally dealt with many problems in the early days of its establishment, such as copyright, low quality of video, high cost of hardware and network resources, and so on
It has become a content ecological closed loop with outstanding profitability
Through the combination of "content segmentation + paid services", YouTube can tap the commercial value of the jumbled UGC content and help creators advance their creative talents
Drive out content marketers who are of little value to the path through mandatory collaboration agreements
Then lock up the video creators through more attractive income dividends to make them produce content continuously
On the outside, YouTube is a content channel, but the flip side of supporting huge traffic is the technical talent, advertising system, and negative hardware and resources of Google and YouTube
Most important are the huge planning advantages brought about by the global business, and the profitability of YouTube, which is made up of declining marginal costs
It is not easy to tell the story of YouTube in our country
First of all, under the difference of YouTube technology and users, the business development of Chinese version of YouTube must be more difficult
Second, the loss problem has plagued YouTube for many years, and YouTube's profit story is only told under the support of Google
This may be a bigger challenge for China's future YouTube
Other, in terms of globalization, backed by Google background, YouTube's speech, planning and first-mover advantages are all very significant
China's audio and video channels want to tell the same story and journey
It's gonna be harder
After all, there is no other YouTube, in front of YouTube, and every way after its death has to survive in the shadow of winner-takes-all
Although it is not easy, we still wish those YouTube of our country who try their best to do good, can invent more value for users, and run a unique road to success in the face of difficulties and obstacles
Report / feedback