YouTube, Google, and the Rise of Internet Video Case Essay

Today, Google, Inc. is worth more than General Motors, McDonald's and Disney combined, and the company continues to model the way in the global technology industry in which it competes. In fact, the company's name has become a verb and it is common practice for consumers to "Google" what they want to find online. To determine how Google, Inc. reached this dazzling level of performance in a relatively short period of time, this paper provides an analysis of the three external environments in which Google competes, the general environment, the industry environment and the competitor environment. Next, a discussion of two specific strategic issues as well as opportunities and threats that are facing Google, Inc. is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

YouTube’s broadened scope presents some corporate use for those businesses with video-worthy content and the desire to share

Hulu is a first mover in this space and is currently enjoying the first mover advantage. However with the ubiquity of internet technology accompanied by lower costs and the commoditization of the technology, the barrier to entry will be reduced and more players will be attracted to the profitable online video business, eating into Hulu’s profitability and success. Also, the increase in IT investments in the internet age causes “a Winner-take-all dynamic and high turbulence, as each group of dominant innovators is threatened by succeeding waves of innovation” (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2008) in Schumpeterian competition. This makes Hulu’s success vulnerable.

For the past ten years, Hulu has been among the most competitive online streaming services. Beginning as a joint venture created by 21st Century Fox and NBCUniversal to “distribute their television programming over the Internet,” (Harvard 2017) Hulu has expanded generously, offering the four largest broadcasting networks. In the wake of a new television era, Hulu has the potential to serve as a Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD). The following write-up includes an analysis of Hulu’s current market standings, including an investigation of growth statistics as well as the company’s overall marketing situation.

Although there is not much competition in this market, consumers always have alternate methods of receiving the same services and more than likely the same quality of services elsewhere. Whether it is choosing to stream videos online, watching them via “Pay per View” or “On Demand” it is truly a buyer’s market considering the services rendered aren’t considered necessities.

Netflix is an entertainment company that specializes in streaming media and online video-on-demand. Over the years, it has grown to include film and television production and other distribution services. Its business model has changed, and so has its overall production cost grown to keep up with the increased market share. As a result, its current position in the market has made it more exposed to competition from other firms, which is why it needs to develop new strategies to remain profitable. Netflix has grown over the past years despite competition and its unprofitability (Helft, 2007). Therefore, to understand its success, it is important provide a microeconomic analysis of Netflix, its history, its products, and the market.

Growing competition as a challenge represents the various companies that are now entering the market of online media-streaming. Companies such as HBO, Amazon, Google, and Hulu Plus have all began to offer media-streaming on the same electronic devices as Netflix, Inc. Currently Netflix, Inc. remains in the lead amongst its competitors; however, there is no guarantee that this advancement is a permanent one. It is inevitable that emerging companies will come up with creative ideas to gain the competitive edge and receive more consumers. For example, Amazon.com has “amplified

Also, the advancements on this stage are as a rule in a condition of concordance with the substance of the video requested, this is another purpose of interest YouTube brings for marketing experts. Certain advancements are given certain recordings since the substance is appropriate. Uncommon open entryways, for instance, supporting a video is in like manner possible on YouTube, "for case, a customer who chase down a YouTube video on canine planning may be given a bolstered video from a pooch toy association in results close by various recordings." YouTube furthermore engage distributers to secure money through its YouTube Partner Program.

The content providing business is a highly capital intensive business. Therefore, the capital required to enter the strategic group and compete is extremely high. To calculate the capital required for a new entrant, we first found the average revenue of the strategic group (~$7.5 billion). We then assumed that a new entrant would have to capture about a third of this average to even make an impact in the industry. Taking this assumption into account, we figured that the new entrant would need about $2.5 billion in its first year of operation. Using this revenue, we then calculated the first year expenses the new entrant would incur.

One the one hand, the fertility of the industry opened the doors to corporations that sighted substantial growth potential. New entrants with big pockets such as Walmart could pose a certain threat to Netflix, by exploiting a playing card based on cost reduction. On the other hand, barriers to entry became relatively significant as established video rental retailers such as Netflix have the experience and the knowhow to market movies to people. In this industry, firms that do not have a technological advantage can’t compete. The best example is Netflix’s CineMatch program that offered personalized film recommendations based on customer’s rental patterns. This way, Netflix was able to better serve its subscribers. From a cost perspective, the movie rental industry requires high capital expenditures, and the major expenses are highly related to acquisitions of DVD library and investments in technology (exhibit 2 continued). Thus, we may say that entry is difficult in this industry as the competing firms have reputation, experience and recognizable brand names.

Today, digital technology and the Internet are deeply reshaping the motion picture industry with a trend toward the digitalisation and disintermediation (Zhu, 2010). Media streaming services are an example of this current restructuration. Providing an access to a wide collection of entertainment online at a cheap price, they have penetrated the monopoly that cinema once enjoyed (Herberg, 2017). A significant example can be found in the US company ‘Netflix’, source of nearly a third of all North American downstream internet traffic at peak hours (Hallinan & Striphas, 2016). Once a small DVD subscription service created in 1997, it offers today to its subscribers to watch its own produced movies and shows as well as content of other

There are new opportunities for the industry. With the advancement of technology many companies can take advantage of the Internet. Currently Netflix expects to spend $7 million-$14 million this year on its Internet Video-On-Demand offering, which it will launch during 2005. Along with opening more distribution centers, this will cut down on delivery costs and time. They expect Internet VOD to have little

YouTube has become the most popular video sharing website. It has variety of functions that enable a virtual organization to operate and have different kinds of virtuality impact. To compare with the other similar enablers, it has strengths and weaknesses.Advertising and marketing is the most significant one. You also can gain different technology impact from it. From the Web Reviews, we can see there are a lot of merits of YouTube. However, the copyright infringement is still the important problem of it.

YouTube is the one stop shop for a user’s video needs. Content ranges from funny home videos to vlogs to political commentary, with nothing left out in between. To keep access to the site free for viewers and creators, YouTube adopted a unique business model to maintain viewership and provide an incentive for creators to post content on the site. This model, though successful, brings an array of problems when deciding what content a creator can profit from. The method YouTube used to determine which videos could profit from advertising is unethical as it inhibits content creators’ ability to create entertaining videos to the site.

Video-on-demand or VOD, a service that allows users to select and watch videos over the internet, will be one of the greatest innovation as stated in the Netflix case study. It will be a great opportunity for Netflix, but it will also be a challenge to integrate or do away with its current business model. Its current business model is one that relies on the internet and the post service to deliver DVDs to its subscribers. Netflix should carefully enter the VOD market without doing away with its current model. This will allow it to maintain its growing position as a giant in this media industry. In order to better understand Netflix and the problems it faces, we must first identify its strengths. What does Netflix offer its customers that its competitors do not? What differentiates it from its competitors?