Video-share site confident in face of litigation – Plans for further worldwide expansion
Literally, it might be known as Voustube, Voitubo or Vocetubo, but the world’s most popular video-sharing site expanding its global platform introduced local-language sites in nine countries on Tuesday that will all just go by YouTube.
The YouTube video-sharing site tailored to specific countries are — Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. The company also plans to add country-specific video rankings.
Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the co-founders of YouTube, which was acquired by Web search leader Google Inc. for $1.65 billion last year, told a news conference here that the nine country sites will eventually feature locally popular content.
Until now, while user-generated videos and comments could be posted in any language, the YouTube.com site framework and navigation menus are in English only. And the featured pages users first see are heavily skewed to U.S. tastes. This is despite the fact that more than half of YouTube’s audience comes from outside the United States, Chen said.
Hurley said that it was only a “lack of resources” that meant the firm was launching nine sites yesterday instead of 140. “Video is universal and allows people around the world to communicate and exchange ideas,” he said. “YouTube will now be more accessible and interesting to a worldwide audience.”
YouTube, which has gone from tiny start-up to one of the internet’s largest properties in less than two years, is launching local-language versions for users in Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom can now enjoy fully translated, local home pages and search functions when they visit YouTube.
YouTube users in these nine countries will be able to switch seamlessly between the main YouTube.com site and the localized versions, said Sakina Arsiwala, YouTube’s international manager.
Coming soon will be even more localization with country-specific video rankings and comments as well as Video, Channel, Categories and Community sections.
We want to create a YouTube experience that is a local experience, said Chen. “Our mission is to entertain, inform and empower the world through video,” he said.
More than half of all viewers on YouTube were now from outside the US, Hurley added.
With our announcement today we are expanding upon our already global platform to make it even more relevant for our local communities, Hurley said. “YouTube will now be more accessible and interesting to a worldwide audience, and we look forward to rolling out in other countries in the months to come.”
The move is likely to make YouTube, which already streams more than 200m videos a day, even more powerful.
In recent months, YouTube has signed up various major international media partners including broadcasters such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, France 24, the Spanish Antena 3 and Cuatro TV, the Portuguese RTP, and the Dutch VPRO and NPO. YouTube also has deals with the Sun, Conde Nast, Dazed & Confused and more than 40 other UK media organizations.
It also features archive and daily news from popular European football clubs such as Chelsea FC, AC Milan, Barcelona FC and Real Madrid, but is restricted from showing live matches in most cases. It also has programs from non-profit groups like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, UNHCR and Medecins du Monde.
Right now, the content will be available to everyone, unless the (media) partner specifies otherwise, Arsiwala said in an interview. It has more than 150 international media partners. “It is not that we want to limit content by geography,” she said.
Media contracts have traditionally been negotiated country by country, reflecting the local nature of broadcast television technology.
Ultimately, the sites will allow users in each country to share and create videos in their local language, discover the most popular and relevant videos in their individual markets, and connect with other local users.
From the beginning, we have been totally focused on creating an incredible YouTube user experience and service, said Chen. “We are really excited to now offer that same great service to a global community by bringing them local sites that not only promote their communities but speak their language.”
But the acquisition of the company by Google, with its massive cash resources, has paved the way for legal challenges by media companies who object to their copyrighted content being posted on the site. Viacom is suing YouTube and Google for $1bn (GBP500m) in damages and a group of sports rights owners that includes the Premier League recently filed their own action in the US courts.
“We have more exposure and with that we have gained potentially more issues. But those issues are with a small minority of videos on the system and we will work and improve that,” Hurley commented.
He declined to say, when asked, how much money Google had set aside to fight or settle pending and future legal battles.