Is Pay-Per-View Video Coming Soon to Google Video?
MediaPost reports in the article: Google Video Preps Pay-Per-View Model, that ppv will soon be a part of Google Video. Is this a surprise? No, not at all. When Chris first wrote about the intro of Google’s Video Upload program last April, he said, “Google also plans to put a payment mechanism in place that allows owners to charge users to view video online.”
Also, a few week’s ago Garett Rogers at ZDNet noticed several changes to the Google Video terms of service that would make download/pay-per-view more of a possibility.
From the MediaPost article:
While the search giant hasn’t yet made any formal announcements, a glitch in several videos streamed on Tuesday suggests that the company is ready to move to a pay-per-view model. At least two of the site’s videos–“How Old People Have Fun” and “Jackass-BMX Roof Crash”–displayed a text overlay Tuesday afternoon asking users to purchase the video to view its full length.
Is “Jackass-BMX Roof Crash” be worth the cash? That’s up to the viewer. Btw, have you ever noticed how many “Jackass” ripoffs are available via Google Video? Here’s a clip where little kids participate in or simulate in “jackass” style stunts.
The other question I continue to wonder about Google Video and other services is how well copyright issues are policed. For example, running a quick search today I found clips from:
+ Fox Television–Malcolm in the Middle
+ CBS-David Letterman Show
+ NBC News
in a matter of minutes. If people start recording tv, dvd’s and other video content with a valid copyright and then try to sell it on Google Video, I would imagine the actual content producers are not going to be very happy. (-: Google and other services will really need to ramp up their monitoring efforts. It’s one thing (I guess) to show in-copyright material but it might be something else to sell and profit from it.
Postscript:
New articles from Garett Rogers and Om Malik further the speculation that Google will offer new video services in the near future. Garett writes about some investigative work he’s done that allows him to speculate that a Google standalone video client is coming. Meanwhile, Om Malik reports that Larry Page will discuss an improved Google Video during his CES presentation on Friday.
Om writes:
It is some sort of a video distribution deal which has been in the works for a while. Maybe content on demand, or finally a strategy and partnership that gives direction to Google Video. Whatever it is, Googlers are pretty pumped about these recent developments.