Why are we linking to YouTube?
Cory Bergman July 28th, 2006
I’ve had a few inquiries why Lost Remote is embedding YouTube clips of copyrighted material rather than linking to the video on the originating media site. It’s a legitimate question, but I’m staging a protest. As a blogger, YouTube’s functionality allows me quickly find and embed the player on the site with a simple copy-paste. When I went to ComedyCentral.com, I tried searching for the clip, but no luck. Once I found it, I tried to find the URL to link directly to it. Nothing. And of course, there’s no functionality to embed their player on the site. So YouTube it is. Media sites must realize that YouTube is becoming the Google of video. People are “YouTubing” to find video before visiting the originating site. And an army of bloggers are embedding YouTube players on their sites, which as an aggregate probably makes up a good third of YouTube’s total video traffic. Why aren’t media sites copying YouTube search and share functionality? Good question.
17 Comments Add your own
1. Mark | July 29th, 2006 at 12:34 am
I have to agree that Youtube is becoming the google of video. However, when Youtube begins to work on their site, my movieblog becomes temporarily disabled until the embed videos are reconnected.
2. Anonymous | July 29th, 2006 at 5:58 am
I know this doesn’t help today, but these companies are working on developing the functionality you want. It just takes longer in a big corporate environment to get the resources to build the features that young developers around the country are producing.
Then, of course, there are ad models and rights issues to work out.
Would you trade access to post the clip for a 15 second pre-roll on your site?
And then how do they keep those clips out off of porn sites who just happen to also love Stephen Colbert?
It will happen, just not as fast for companies with deep pockets and a lot to lose.
3. Cory | July 29th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Good points anonymous, but all of us in the media (me included) should have recognized it sooner and moved faster.
As far as the pre-rolls, yes it will limit the number of bloggers who are willing to post it. And perhaps in the early phases, we don’t run pre-rolls on those particular clips just to gain some traction — and to correspond to YouTube (the industry standard) when they start running ads in the near future.
As far as highly objectionable sites that post it, we could reserve the right to ask them to remove it it the surrounding content doesn’t meet our standards. But I don’t think that’s a problem, as most people realize that we didn’t post it ourselves.
4. infobong.com&hellip | July 29th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
down the tubes…
Over on Lost Remote, Cory Bergman explains why the blog is using YouTube to embed video in posts, rather than link to clips on the Comedy Central site. Although using YouTube implies a degree of copyright infringement, it is too difficult to find a lin…
5. Safran | July 30th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Piping in all the way from Aruba for this…
And I fully support Cory’s editorial position. (And have linked to copyright-protected material before myself.) As long as the other folks make it harder to find their stuff (or damn near impossible), I have no problem with linking to YouTube.
I think I submitted a tagline once to Cory: “WE STEAL WHEN THE NETWORKS MAKE US,” which he wisely turned down.
6. discreet_chaos | July 31st, 2006 at 12:01 pm
I’ve also been on vacation, so this is little late, but I think the issue might also have something to do with a lack of “synergy”, something I’ve whined about in the past. ComedyCentral is owned by MTV Networks; iFilm is also owned by MTV Networks; iFilm has a YouTube-like embedding mechanism, so why can’t one hand wash the other? And, why does CC insist on their cumbersome and frequently malfunctioning interface?
7. Anonymous | August 4th, 2006 at 11:47 am
No cumbersome and frequently malfunctioning interface here
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/browsevideos.jhtml?showId=934
8. Lost Remote TV Blog&hellip | September 24th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
[...] Earlier this year: Why Lost Remote links to YouTube [...]
9. Raplhing Therapy | October 9th, 2006 at 9:21 am
great blog, keep it comming.
10. Lost Remote TV Blog&hellip | November 25th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
[...] Lost Remote has encouraged the media sites to allow their videos to be shared easliy on other blogs. The best way to do that is to follow the YouTube model by allowing bloggers to embed video, right on the page. So, to celebrate the ability to embed Comedy Central video here’s a “Word” from the Colbert Report: “Sigh.” We have written before that we will embed video directly from the source when the source makes it as easy to share as YouTube. We’re happy to see Comedy Central jumping in to the pool. [...]
11. orginal diamonds sales | December 17th, 2006 at 9:17 am
ok i agree … good luck with your blog
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13. Eric | June 29th, 2007 at 11:49 am
YouTube constantly malfunctions for me. I’ve had to post all comments twice today, and every so often the text in the descriptions, comments, and rest of the page ends up at something like 36 Pt (I’m using a Firefox-based browser (Camino, it’s the only browser I like that’s 1/4-decent on a Mac mini), in case you’re wondering).
14. MOJO | January 18th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
15. Bobby Snicket | April 16th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
This is why?
Watch and learn and comment
16. Bobby Snicket | April 16th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
This is why?
Watch and learn and comment
17. Bobby Snicket | April 16th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
This is why?
Watch and learn and comment
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