Deep Jive Interests

Forbes has an excellent article reporting one deliciously fast growing competitor to YouTube — a Paris production named DailyMotion.com that allows people to upload clips that have no limit (YouTube caps at 10 minutes) that has no advertising, and no obvious limitations to copyrighted material. As a result, people have been uploading full television episodes with abandon, and while it has a tiny slice of the YouTube pie (<1% compared to 65% of online video viewership), it is growing exponentially.

But its more than just online piracy writ large – the article goes into a few interesting tidbits, such as privately built online portals so people can find the exact links to where whole seasons of TV are found (five full seasons of Futurama? Fantastic!), the legality of such issues, how DailyMotion evades YouTube’s issues, and the real futility in getting DailyMotion to take down any videos at all.

I think the bottom line is that while all studios can partner with YouTube all they want, and they can pom-pom press releases about CBS’s success, ultimately what people want is free stuff.  As internet users get more savvy, YouTube will lose its cachet precisely because of the media restrictions that are placed on it.  Piracy, or rather, totally free episodes, needs to ultimately be viewed and considered as a strategy in and of itself as a way to drive interest and traffic.  Any efforts in stiffling media that wants to be viewed and shared, no matter what your legal or ethical opinions on the matter are, will ultimately be futile.