Video wars again but not betamax versus VHS but Google’s YouTube versus Murdoch’s MySpace.
MySpace have taken the gloves off and recognised the huge market and video demand in the social space. YouTube, dominants the online video space and its market share continues to grow. A recent Hitwise report stes that their share has grown 70 percent since January, compared to MySpace Video's 13 percent growth in the same time period. YouTube's current market share is 60% compared to MySpace Videos' 16%.
MySpaceTV will be an upgrade to the video site it launched two years ago, and will showcase premium content like the Sony Minisodes, which debuted on MySpace last week. These feature short clips of classic TV shows, alongside user-generated content and other sophisticated Internet video offerings. MySpace has announced a handful of deals with the usual content partners, including National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, Fox's IGN Entertainment, Animation Show and the Daily Reel. It will not only be open to Internet users who do not have an account on the social networking site, but MySpace users will be able to create their own TV pages by uploading videos to the site.
Intrestingly, when YouTube first launched, MySpace was its largest source of traffic, and that it continues to be a large driver. With the advent of TV services such as Joost and iPlayer it is going to be a crowded space with many vying from the same eyes. What is clear is that the video, film and TV worlds are changing.
