MySpace Sends Out For Videos

Source: "Just an Online Minute" (from Media Post)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 by Wendy Davis 

News Corp.'s MySpace has launched a new video section containing clips from media companies like The New York Times, Reuters, and Fox's IGN Entertainment, the company said today.

With the new initiative, material such as the Times' "Vows" videos and episodes of National Geographic's "The Dog Whisperer" will be available on branded news channels on MySpace video.

Of course, with much of this material already available on the Web, the question arises why the media companies are willing to syndicate to News Corp.

One answer probably stems from the difficulty of finding videos online. While all the major Web portals offer some form of video search, the technology still isn't nearly as good as that for non-video search. In many instances, people seeking specific clips need to visit a variety of video sites and/or search engines to find them. So strewing clips around the Web, site by site, might be the only way to make sure that people can find them, at least for now.

The media companies' decision to syndicate clips online also seems driven by the belief that they should go where the eyeballs are. If consumers -- especially the young people who populate MySpace -- aren't coming to newspapers' sites, then the newspapers will go to the consumers. Whether the audience wants this content from MySpace is another matter entirely. 

Source: "Just an Online Minute" (from Media Post) by Wendy Davis