InsideGoogle

Google Video Upload Program

Google has unveiled its much-anticipated video uploading service, and it is surprisingly far more comprehensive than I could have imagined. The details:

• You can upload your video. Any video. If you own the rights, you can send it in.
• The videos can be of any size, and of any popular format (except DivX). They cannot be pornographic or obscence.
• You get full control over the videos, including the ability to add transcripts or metadata. You can link back to your website from the video.
• You can charge money for people to view the videos. Google retains a percentage.
• For now, Google is just accepting videos. Soon, it will begin showing previews of the videos, as well as the associated transcripts and information. Eventually, the full video will be made available (unless you are charging for it).
• Your video will be protected to prevent any downloading (not that someone won’t crack it within days, but its the thought that counts).

I love it. For the first time since AdWords hit, Google has a service with a solid business model. The pay videos will easily pay for the service. People will begin creating content to sell on Google Video. Bloggers who need web space for their videos now have it for free. I can’t see any major downside to this program.

Small caveats:

• The upload program only works on Windows, while the Mac is a much better system for video editing.
• Supports MPEG, Quicktime, Windows Media Video and RealVideo, and presumably standard AVI, but not the far, far, far more robust DivX standard. Google could make a huge step towards widespread acceptance of DivX by using it. It would be exactly their style.
• I don’t want to wait! Get this working now!
• The Google Video Uploader is the ugliest Google program ever:

  

  Eh, who cares? As long as it works…

Unbelievable. If this pans out, its a home run for Google. Sure, all the news reports tried to paint this as some video blogging endeavour, and they were way off, but it can really change the way the internet approaches video. Bravo, Google.
Hat-tip: Jason Schramm

April 13th, 2005 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | General | 3 comments