You’ve likely seen the type of YouTube videos being referenced – they’re uploaded by gamers who brag about their skills, showcasing headshots or coin counts or any other such achievements worth their weight in digital praise. Others are of the more utilitarian variety, featuring step-by-step visual walkthroughs of hard-to-beat missions, as well as walkthroughs of complete levels from the game’s beginning to end.

The sticking point in the issue is that each video is displaying the video game maker’s intellectual property, and for that reason the company can have the content pulled. Rather than take that route, Nintendo has decided to fill its coffers, so to speak, with their customer’s content by reaping the advertisement revenue. Said the company, “We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube. That is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.”

This will be achieved by targeting videos that meet certain requirements, such as displaying Nintendo game footage, as well as the duration that footage is visible on the video. Such videos will have advertisements placed either at the beginning of the content, somewhere in the middle, or at the end, depending on the video. Those proceeds will go to Nintendo, and the content creator’s ability to garner ad revenue is eliminated.

As you might imagine, the backlash over this has been large, with many stating they will no longer upload content of Nintendo games – some going so far as to say they’ll stop playing them entirely – until the issue is sorted and Nintendo stops leeching off their content. One such gamer that will be affected is Zack Scott, who said on his Facebook that unlike movies and TV shows, every game play is unique, and for this reason Nintendo is in the wrong. Viewers aren’t watching to see Nintendo’s content, but rather the means by which to beat a mission and to hear commentary on the game.

SOURCE: BBC News

In addition to being in good standing, the YouTube channel must have a minimum of one thousand subscribers. The sticking point, however, is that neither of the two alone seem to guarantee that you’ll be granted access to the feature, instead making you eligible to apply for it. Says YouTube, after enabling the Live button, users will gain access to the feature “in the following weeks,” all of which is a rather obtuse explanation of the expansion.

You can find out rather quickly if you meet the requirements by heading into the Account Features page and scrolling to the bottom of the listing. At the end of the list is the “Live” feature with a radio button. If you see a clickable button that says “Enable,” you’ll eligible to apply. If you’re not for whatever reason, such as bad standing or too few subscribers, you’ll see the following instead:

There are three categories in which an account is monitored for good or sub-par standing: Community Guidelines, Copyright Strikes, and Content ID Claims. All three are likewise listed on the Account Features page, each with a radio button and rating next to it. All three radio buttons must display a green light and the phrase “Good Standing.”

YouTube specifies the standards for gaining – and remaining – in good standing in its Community Guidelines. If you are granted the live streaming feature, you’ll be able to use any live video stream, with the ability to implement various camera angles, advertisements, slates, and close captioning. The live streams are supported across multiple devices, and can be watched from a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

SOURCE: YouTube

According to Heiner’s statements earlier this year, Google purposely passed down commands to YouTube to keep Windows Phone from having the same full-blown app iOS and Android users enjoy. “But just last month we [at Microsoft] learned from YouTube that senior executives at Google told them not to enable a first-class YouTube experience on Windows Phones.”

Fast-forward nearly six months, and Google has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Microsoft, demanding that the YouTube application be pulled and disabled on handsets by next Wednesday, May 22. This is due to two reasons: the lack of advertisements, and the ability to download videos that have been marked as unavailable for those accessing on smartphones and tablets. According to the letter, the lack of ads and download feature are harming the YouTube “content ecosystem” and decreasing ad revenue.

The claims aren’t bothering Microsoft, it would seem, with the Windows Phone YouTube app remaining available. Shortly after news of the cease-and-desist surfaced, Microsoft responded with a candid, if not somewhat biting, statement: “We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page’s comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers.”

In light of the accusations Heiner made earlier this year, such a response from Microsoft isn’t surprising. The question now is how Google will respond, which we’ll have to wait for until next week (assuming the app remains). Microsoft may elect to keep the app available and to allow it to remain functional on users’ devices, which is suggested by its response.

SOURCE: ars technica

According to data from Sandvine, Netflix tops the list of “online video downstream sources” for the first half of 2013 (most likely thanks to House of Cards). The Reed Hastings-led company comes in at 32.3% on the list, with YouTube coming in at a distant second at 17.11%. And while other streaming services have claimed to have significant growth, today’s results show otherwise, with Amazon and HBO remaining stagnant for the most part. These two companies are at the bottom of the list with 1.31% and 0.34%, respectively, both of which are drops compared to last year.

Hulu, iTunes, and Facebook also made the list. Hulu, specifically jumped from 1.1% to 2.41% this year, making it the streaming video service to watch out for other than Netflix and YouTube. Granted, these results only track internet traffic on home networks. Things are a bit different when you only track mobile web traffic.

YouTube came out on top in mobile streaming traffic with 27.33%, while Netflix is way at the bottom of the list with just 3.98%, proving that Netflix isn’t all too popular on mobile devices while on the go. Other services to make the mobile streaming list include Google Play, Pandora, and BlackBerry, although they were also down toward the bottom, with Facebook placed toward the top.

In Netflix’s latest quarterly earnings, the company boasted an increase of three million subscribers during the three-month period, which brings the service’s total user base up to 36 million. If the trends continue, Netflix will be a force not to be reckoned with, especially when they consume a third of all internet traffic. The company even went as far as saying that they contribute to the decline in piracy, but BitTorrent doesn’t believe it, saying that Netflix’s claims are fallacious.

VIA: AllThingsD

SOURCE: Sandvine

Simply put, while this is limited in the amount of channels, there does appear to be a decent variety to get started with. Some of the other channels include PGA Digital Golf Academy, Pets.TV, National Geographic Kids, Comedy.TV and Fix My Hog which is a Harley channel. The full list of paid channels can be found at youtube.com/channels/paid_channels. Sesame Street will also be coming to the program and they will be offering full episodes.

Each channel will offer a 14-day free trial and subscription fees will begin at $0.99 per month. There will also be options to subscribe in an annual basis. Keep in mind though, prices will vary. For example, the National Geographic Kids channel is $3.99 on a monthly basis and $29.99 on an annual basis. And in this case, it was specifically noted there will be no advertising.

Otherwise, those subscribing to a channel will be able to watch on the computer as well as on a phone, tablet or television. The one catch at the moment, the actual subscribing needs to be done from the computer. With that in mind, Google hasn’t offered a timeline as to when, but they have said that “soon” you will be able to subscribe on more devices.

[via YouTube Blog]

And you heard that correctly, Foursquare teamed up with Nokia, which means that the updated app will come pre-loaded on select Lumia models, with the app optimized for Lumia devices as an added bonus, where it will work seamlessly with the line’s augmented reality technology, giving Foursquare users the ability to check in with style.

The YouTube app also received an update on Windows Phone 8, being “completely redesigned” with a handful of new features, most notably pinning support, which lets you pin videos, channels, playlists and search results right to your phone’s Start Screen. The pinning also extends to YouTube’s Kids Corners, allowing parents to easily control what their kids can and cannot view.

These updates come just after Hulu released the Hulu Plus app on Windows Phone 8 yesterday. Netflix had been in the game for over a month, so the streaming service has a lot of catching up to do on Microsoft’s platform. Then again, a lot of companies have catching up to do, as many popular apps still aren’t on Windows Phone 8 yet.

Included in the map is mainland USA as well as bits of Alaska and Hawaii – though you’ll find both of the smaller areas stuffed in the pocket of the larger, per usual smashed maps for convenience. Regions are mapped according to larger populations – don’t expect Staples, Minnesota to appear any time soon.

What’s interesting about the break-down you’ll see on the YouTube Trends Map is the differences between shares and views, age demographics, and gender based on Google information you’ve given the search engine whilst viewing videos. It’s not clear at the moment what Google does for breaking down Male and Female audiences – in the past we’ve found such situations to default to Male: we’ll see what Google has to say about the situation soon.

Meanwhile have a tap through the Age separations to see what’s happened to our hive mind – it doesn’t seem to matter what age viewers are, everyone wants to see the water polo player nudge his opponent into the pool as the rest of his teammates shake hands for a good game. Everyone loves to giggle.

Users working with Google’s Play Movies service are already able to watch movies they’ve purchased through Google’s online store through YouTube while this week’s announcement has them considering a subscription service. Once a user purchases or rents a movie through Google Play, they can play that movie through a web browser using Google’s Movies interface, using the Google Movies app on Android, or through YouTube.

Purchase or rent a movie or television show episode through Google Play and that title is available for watching – as long as you’re logged in – on YouTube. This feature has likely paved the way for Google’s ability to sell subscription services through YouTube in the near future. This week’s report comes from a Financial Times report in which they’ve got a comment direct from YouTube on the possibility of such a service.

“[We are] looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer.” – YouTube

While this upcoming service could bring a model that would be on-par with the type of video offered with traditional cable subscriptions, services like Hulu Plus and Netflix would likely remain safe from impact. With a subscription to a library of titles rather than an always-broadcasting system like what’s suggested for YouTube here, these large-name systems could keep separate.

If on the other hand it happens to be that YouTube opens up subscriptions to channels that serve up collections of movies – that’d be a different story entirely. YouTube’s future service is suggested to be costing users $1.99 USD per channel per month. Thus far there’ve been no substantial confirmations or denials from YouTube or Google about the possibility of this service existing in the near future (other than what you see above).

A new report has surfaced that indicates Google is now getting close to unveiling a video subscription service for some of YouTube’s special video channels. The report indicates that the goal of the subscription channels is to help finance a new range of content and give YouTube a second revenue stream. The role out of this subscription service has reportedly been in the works for months.

Google could announced the new subscription plans as early as this week. Subscriptions may be rolled out to as many as 50 YouTube channels according to people claiming to be familiar with plans. Viewers will be allowed to subscribe to each individual channel they choose for as little as $1.99 per month.

YouTube has offered no official comment on its subscription service other than saying that it was looking to create a subscription platform. While it’s unclear at this point which of YouTube channel partners will be participating in the subscription service, some possible partners include WWE, Howcast, The Onion, and others. Another person claiming to be familiar with the project stated that traditional cable and satellite channels were considering YouTube’s subscription service is way to generate revenue from older shows and new programming.

[via CNN]

With the app “Fullscreen BEAM”, users will be able to record a video with Google Glass and upload it instantly to their YouTube channel. This system allows for instant pre-sets like keeping the video private for later viewing and instantly sharing to Twitter – users’ choice. The developers of this app work with Fullscreen, a media company created by CEO George Strompolos back in 2011 after co-creating the YouTube Partnership Program.

This week has been full of 3rd-party app creations filling the many, many gaps left by official brands. While app creators at, for example, Evernote and Path make it clear that they’ll be developing for Glass themselves, many Google services remain wide open for the 3rd party development attachment. It’s Google’s intent that the platform grow, it seems, through developers from outside its own ranks.

Have a peek at the brief timeline below for additional moments in app development appearing for Glass in just the past week. This device is becoming an ecosystem for which a development group gains hype for creating a rather simple app quite quickly. Expect many more to jump aboard in the very near future.

Schmidt said that “the future is now” for YouTube, and the company has been set on reinventing television by getting dozens of major media brands and celebrities to launch their own channels for more exclusive content on the streaming video website. However, Schmidt says that YouTube isn’t a replacement for TV, but simply “a new thing…to program, to curate and build new platforms.”

Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head of content, says that while television is one-way communication, YouTube goes both ways, and he says that the streaming service is all about engagement rather than simply trying to reach as many people as you can like with television. YouTube likes to hone in on their demographics and go from there.

Google just recently claimed that more 18- to 34-year-olds watch YouTube than any cable network. DreamWorks Animation’s even purchased Awesomeness TV for $33 million, which is a teen-focused YouTube Channel. Cable television has been going downhill for a while now, and streaming videos are taking its place, with many people ditching their cable and hooking up their devices to their TVs to watch streaming content.

[via NPR]

In addition to the acquisition announcement that was made at the Brandcast, some information on YouTube’s audience was provided by Nielsen, which revealed that the video service pulls in more viewers in the 18 to 34 age range than any cable network out there, something sure to catch the eye of more than a few advertisers. The aforementioned AwesomenessTV is one such network that helps bolster those numbers.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment revealed plans to buy media from 32 channels on YouTube. Specifically, it has made plans to purchase family-friendly content, though additional information wasn’t provided, such as which content that represents or when the purchase will take place.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment, more commonly called the AFE, is composed of almost 40 advertisers across the nation, all of which, when combined, represent 37-percent of all money spent on TV advertisements in the United States. What all of this boils down to, says YouTube, is the so-called Generation C, which is composed of an audience fully entrenched in social media and content creation, influencing billions of dollars in consumer spending.

[via YouTube Blogspot]

DreamWorks acquihired AwesomenessTV for the price of $33 million, a figure that could rise all the way up to $117 million by 2015 if AwesomenessTV CEO and Founder Brian Robbins is able to hit his earnings targets in both 2014 and 2015. While DreamWorks gained AwesomenessTV, its main goal was to bring Robbins onto its team. Robbins will continue to operate the Awesommeness TV channel, but he will also be taking on an executive role at DreamWorks, where he will be producing a dedicated digital family channel for the company.

Robbins will have access to all of DreamWorks’s resources and IPs to produce the channel. According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks CEO, Robbins is a perfect match to build the company’s online presence and also its digital family channel because he “has an extraordinary track record in creating family content both for traditional and new platforms”. Robbins responded by saying that it’s an incredible opportunity to have access to DreamWorks’s resources and that he “can’t wait to get started.”

Robbins created AwesomenessTV last June, investing $3.5 million into the channel, most of which came from investors like MK Capital and DreamWorks. The channel was, as AllThingsD puts it, the next-generation of Nickelodeon because it targeted the young viewers of YouTube’s demographic. YouTube’s Global Head of Content, Robert Kyncl, stated that in a short amount of time, Robbins “built AwesomenessTV into a powerful, next-generation, audience network on YouTube.” Many speculate that this may be the start of an “incredible evolution of online entertainment.”

[via AllThingsD]

This is the second time Judge Stanton has sided with YouTube, having also done so a couple years after the lawsuit surfaced in 2007. Viacom’s argument was that YouTube’s business was formed on the backs of copyrighted content, having failed to implement a system for preventing such materials. It was ruled that YouTube was in the safe harbor provision of the DMCA.

Despite this, appeals judges ultimately decided to bring the lawsuit back, saying that the quantity of copyrighted content featured on the website in that time period was in the majority, and that YouTube was aware of it. The problem it noted, however, was that Viacom must show that the video service was aware of individual instances of infrigement, something Judge Stanton says it has acknowledged that it cannot do.

Viacom claimed that YouTube purposely ignored copyright infringing content, and that it could have implemented a system to filter it but chose not to. In response, Judge Stanton stated that YouTube, under the DMCA, is not required to search for the infringing content, and that Viacom failed to demonstrate that YouTube engaged in “willful blindness.” Regarding the issue of whether it intentionally avoided limiting the content, the judge ruled that it doesn’t matter, the safe harbor provision still applies.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

The updated app actually includes several new features, with live streaming being the headliner, while the others are merely minor changes. Aside from the live streaming, there’s a new My Subscriptions feed, which gives you quick access to new uploads, as well as support for video queuing for TV playback.

The most-interesting feature by far though is the live streaming abilities, which comes at a bad time actually, considering that YouTube just live streamed the Coachella Music Festival all weekend long, and we’re sure that some YouTube users wished they could have joined in on their mobile devices while away from the house.

Either way, live streaming is now…well…live, so head on over the iTunes App Store to download the app, or simply just head to Updates to get the latest version. We have to say that Apple dropping YouTube from iOS as a default app has turned out to be quite a blessing, as Google now has the opportunity to add a slew of cool features on their own time.

For a limited time (we’re guessing only today), you can experience YouTube videos as if they were actual VHS tapes. All you have to do is enable VHS mode in the bottom-right of the corner and you’ll be treated with the fuzziness and static that were the bane of your existence growing up. And when you pause the video, it’ll pause just like a VHS tape does, complete with the warping.

The feature only works on a select number of YouTube videos, and the streaming service hasn’t said exactly what videos have the feature, but it’s probably a good bet that most of the popular videos have the temporary feature. If you want to experience VHS mode, here’s a video that will get you in quite the nostalgic mood (the feature doesn’t work with embedded videos).

The first VCR was the Ampex VRX-1000, which launched in 1956 at a price of $50,000. It was absolutely huge compared to what VCRs are like now, and VCRs actually didn’t become more compact until several years later, when they began appearing in homes in the mid-1960s. However, while some VCRs are still being used, they’ve been mostly replaced by DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

It’s not too often that a new single will have gained so much popularity that it warrants a live debut on YouTube, but if anyone is capable of doing it, Psy is certainly the singer who can. This Saturday at 2:30 am PT (yes, that’s the middle of the night), Psy will live stream his new single, titled “Gentleman,” to the world for the first time.

Psy will be debuting the song at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, where not only will be performing live on YouTube, but in front of thousands of people as well. It should be a good time, but for those of us in the US, be prepared to either stay up late or wake up really early to catch it live. Or you could just wait until morning and watch a replay of it like most of us will probably do anyway.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” hit the 1-billion-view mark back in December, and it’s already gained another 500 million views within the last few months alone. The video alone also brought in $8 million in advertising, thanks to YouTube’s advertising platform that allows users to make money off of their videos by embedding ads.

Hurley initially announced his plans to start a new video website earlier this month at SXSW, and at the time, he said he was about a month away from officially launching the new site to the public, so there’s still about a week and a half left before that happens, but Hurley officially announced MixBit today via Twitter, and created a landing page for the new service.

On the MixBit website, Hurley notes that “instead of sitting around, we thought you’d want a new site to not only watch cat videos, but create them…together!” This suggests that MixBit will not only be a consumption platform to watch videos, but a service that allows you to create videos with other users as well.

Hurley noted that MixBit won’t be a YouTube competitor, but rather a supplement. MixBit’s collaboration focus could create a whole new meaning to video-streaming sites, but we’ll have to wait and see what it’s all about first. Details are rather scarce at this point, and there’s no exact launch date specified, but we should hear more about it sometime in the near future.

The video shows footage of YouTube’s offices where 30,000 staff members are reviewing ALL of the content that has ever been uploaded to YouTube. In the video, Tim Liston, the “Competition Director”, states that it’s finally time to pick the “winner”. He also says that the entire process of determining the winner will take 10 years. The “winner” of the competition will be revealed in 2023 when YouTube’s site goes back online.

The video features interviews with a variety of uploaders with popular video uploads. There are interviews with iJustine, the uploaders of “____ reacts to ____” videos, Charlie bit my finger, David After Dentist, and more. The winners of the contest get a pretty terrible prize. They get a MP3 player that can be strapped to their sleeves, as well as a $500 stipend to be used towards their next creative venture (8 years well spent).

All in all, it was a creative video that will get you some laughs. Of course, if YouTube really were to shut down, it’d be a nightmare. How else are we going to get easy access to hands-on video demonstrations, or learn how to tie a tie? Fortunately for all of us, YouTube is doing extremely well and is seeing no threats of being shutdown, unlike Google Reader. Just last week, YouTube announced that it finally has 1 billion monthly active users. If YouTube was really a contest, which video would you nominate to win?

YouTube has released a set of APIs that game developers can grab that will allow them to easily include such features into their games. The APIs will allow developers to live stream a video coming from a game, while YouTube takes that video feed and transcodes the video in real time so that viewers can watch the live stream on YouTube.

YouTube has partnered with Call of Duty: Black Ops II in the past to offer similar capabilities, but the service is making it available to all game developers who want to include live streaming in their games. YouTube says that this will not only be great for promoting games, but also for offering a neat way for gamers to share their gaming experiences with others.

Sony announced similar functionality last month during the company’s announcement of the PlayStation 4. In this case, gamers press a “Share” button on the controller to quickly share game footage with friends who weren’t there to see it for themselves. Popular PC gaming chat client Xfire has also had this capability for years, allowing PC gamers to live stream their gameplay to other Xfire users.

[via CNET]

The easiest way to grasp how many users this is? Almost one of every two Internet users visits YouTube for their video needs. That is astronomical, but perhaps still not enough to grasp the full nature of 1 billion users. How about this? The user base in one month is equal to approximately the Super Bowl audience – times ten.

Taking it even further, if YouTube were its own country, it would be the third largest, coming in behind only India and China. And rounding out the examples, remember PSY and Madonna’s Madison Square Garden event? They would have to perform in front of that audience 200,000 more times to equal the number of unique monthly visitors YouTube gets every month.

In summary: 1 billion users is a huge number, and certainly a celebration-worthy achievement. And as any good company would do, YouTube has given a hearty thank you to everyone who uses the service, expressing gratitude for every user from the “aspiring filmmaker in his basement” to the “next great pop musician.”

[via YouTube]

The competition is set to launch this Wednesday, March 20th. There will be a finalist announced at the end of every two weeks, meaning there will be 26 lucky winners who will have the chance to win “great prizes”. The competition is called “The You Generation”, and it is looking to discover stars whose talents are hidden behind the endless amounts of videos that show up on YouTube each day.

The judges will be the executives from Simon Cowell’s music publishing/television production house, Syco. Alongside these executives, there will be a series of featured guests (most like celebrities who pop in each week). At the launch of the competition this week, the U.K. boy band, One Direction, will be making a guest appearance live from the back stage of their tour. Their appearance will most likely to draw in viewers (the teenage girls demographic), and encourage competitors.

Alongside the launch of Cowell’s new competition program, YouTube will be launching a series of other new series. Ricky Gervais will be launching a series of “brand new personalities, sketches and comedy creations” through his YouTube Channel. Reddit has started a new series called “Explain Like I’m Five” which breaks down complicated topics into an explanation that is understandable by even (and literally) five year olds. These are important steps that YouTube is taking in order to make itself a viable alternative to regular television.

[via YouTube]

The iPad version comes mixed in with the iPhone version, so there aren’t two separate apps here. This means that the iPad version can do the same things that iPhone users have been enjoying for a couple months now, including the ability to edit your videos right after shooting them, and then uploading their videos to social networks.

After filming a video, you can add different effects and edit your video by adding color correction, auto stabilization, trimming, and even music. You also have the choice of uploading your video as a private video or make it public. Plus, you can post it to Google+, Facebook, and Twitter all at once, cutting out many of the monotonous steps in the process.

The app recently updated to support 1080p recording, which is excellent, but if you’re connected to WiFi, be aware that uploading a 1080p video may be slow, and it could eat up your data plan if you’re not on an unlimited subscription. YouTube Capture is a free download, and the update is available now from the App Store.

Content creators can set the available viewing period for their video after a Vimean purchases it. The time ranges from 24 hours to 1 year. Creators are also able to allow downloads for their videos, however, once a video is downloaded, the Vimean will be allowed to view the video whenever they want and wherever they want. Creators are also able to choose which regions their videos will be available in.

Video creators will be able to keep 90% of the revenue they generate, after the transaction fees. Vimeo will keep the remaining 10% and cover all “delivery costs”. Vimeo on Demand is another way for content creators to be able to make money off of their hard work. Vimeo introduced Tip Jar last year that let users donate money to video creators, and it launched “movies” which was the first pay-to-view experience to be featured on Vimeo.

Vimeo believes that many content creators do exceptional work with their videos and that they should be compensated for it. It’s not the only service monetizing its content. YouTube is rumored to be launching a paid content service too sometime in the Spring. Its paid content services may range from $1 to $5. With Vimeo, users are able to watch their content on their smartphone, tablets, gaming systems, and Smart TVs all in HD. Paid content services like Vimeo’s and YouTube’s are helping strengthen the advancement of Internet TV.

[via Vimeo]

RBC believes that Google’s advertisement revenue and cost-per-click will grow thanks to the growing amount of mobile smartphone usage. The analysts at RBC stated, “We have long believed that Mobile was incremental to -not cannibalistic of- Google’s Search growth.” Many analysts believed before that Google’s advertisement growth would deplete due to the “mobile bear thesis”, which states that the increasing usage of mobile phones, as well as the growing number of mobile ads, would eat into Google’s “core business”. The thesis was supported when Google’s average CPC fell 6% in Q4 2012 as mobile phone sales grew.

YouTube will also play a very important role in Google’s revenue. The company is expected to bring in $4 billion in revenue this year, with 100 advertisers increasing their spending by up to 50%. Google claimed the top spot in multiple positions in the online video category. It’s YouTube service garnered the most unique viewers, minutes per viewer, and video ads. Companies are expected to spend $3.9 billion on online video ads this year, a $1 billion increase from last year.

Google also has impressive exposure throughout the world, generating 54% of its revenue overseas. It’s one of the leaders in online advertisement, just falling behind Facebook. However this year, Forrester believes that Google will surpass Facebook in online display advertisement revenue, generating an anticipated $2.31 billion in revenue compared to Facebook’s forecasted $2.16 billion. According to a study done by Forrester Research, companies will spend about $12.7 billion on online display ads this year alone, a figure that is expected to grow to $28 billion by 2017.

[via Forbes]

Then again, Hurley notes that he isn’t launching the service to kill YouTube. Instead, he’s creating a platform that’s better suited for collaboration purposes, and says that “there’s always going to be a place for YouTube.” Indeed, given its large user base, we don’t think YouTube will go away anytime soon, no matter how awesome a new video service might be, but while Hurley means no harm to YouTube, we wouldn’t be surprised if his new service clashed a little with Google’s video powerhouse.

Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion six-and-a-half years ago, and Hurley stayed on board until 2010 when he stepped down from his role. Since then, he’s been working on several projects, including a service called Zeen that lets people “discover and create beautiful magazines.” However, it looks like his latest project is this new video service.

Other points of discussion during Hurley’s interview session included how YouTube was bought by Google, and how many of the key discussions took place at a Denny’s restaurant with Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin. He even met with Yahoo a week after his discussion with Google about a possible acquisition, but YouTube ended up going with Google in the long run.

[via Adweek]

With the One Channel design, users can designate a video as a channel trailer that will only be presented to individuals who aren’t subscribers. The trailer is a welcomed feature that allows users to showcase their best work, or to sticky a promotional video that encourages users to subscribe for more. In addition, channel art has been optimized to scale to screens of all sizes, preventing ugly channel designs. Links to both merchandise and social accounts are displayed.

Another welcomed feature is the ability to form playlists of one’s own content and other YouTube content. The playlists are prominently displayed for subscribers to view, providing an opportunity to sort one’s own content into groups, such as “My Best Videos,” and to create collections of relevant, funny, or otherwise enjoyable videos from other users. Ensuring maximum visibility, users are also taken to the complete channel upon clicking on it from the guide, rather than just being presented with the activity feed.

YouTube has provided several already-switched profiles that you can check out to get a feel for the new design, such as MysteryGuitarMan. Switching to the new look is as simple as following this link, then clicking the button asking if you want to switch. Are you using the new design? Let us know what you think in the comments!

[via YouTube]

This YouTube music streaming rumor comes only a couple of weeks after it was rumored that Google is planning its own music streaming service. We’re unsure whether or not the Google rumors and the YouTube rumors are the same thing, but according to CNN, Google and YouTube may be setting up their own separate, music streaming services that offer the same features. YouTube is said to have its own negotiating team and own operating unit for its upcoming music streaming service.

Even without the music streaming service, the company is the most widely used medium for listening to music. Most of the top videos viewed on YouTube are music videos, and over 64% of teenagers preferred using YouTube to listen to music compared to any other music platform. Companies are also realizing that music streaming is the new future for gaining revenue. Warner Music Group received 25% of its digital revenue from music streaming services alone.

If Google and YouTube do launch their own subscription-based music streaming services, they have a lot of competition. They’re entering a saturated market. Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and many others already dominate the music streaming space, so Google may have a hard time getting its foot in the door. But considering it’s Google, the name itself may be enough to steal away users from the other services.

A YouTube spokesperson commented on this rumor saying, “While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.” Considering its YouTube and the amount of influence it has, its most likely going to follow through with a subscription music service.

[via CNN Money]

Google has a fondenss for Easter eggs, having them embedded all over the place, including the Android handset in your pocket. It has added a Harlem Shake egg to its repertoire, which you can see by heading over to YouTube and searching for “Do the Harlem Shake”. Don’t bail too early, though, it takes a handful of seconds to get to the good part.

If you can’t be bothered to look right now, what those who do will see is a series of thrashing video results accompanied by music. It lasts 30 or so seconds before the music drops and the video results go back to their regular positions. This is just one of many Easter eggs you can enjoy among Google’s various products and services.

A common favorite, for example, is heading over to Google search and looking up “Do a barrel roll,” which will cause the entire screen to do a 360 across your display. Android users can also pull up the Easter egg on their smartphone by repeatedly tapping the OS version number under “About Phone” in Settings. Each versions has its own little something to enjoy.

[via Android Community]

As for what smart TVs and various other home theater devices that the YouTube app works with, the company says that it’s compatible with Bang & Olufsen, LG, Panasonic and Sony devices right now. However, companies such as Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, and Western Digital will add support later this year, with even more companies to add to the list later on as well.

So technically, you won’t need a smart TV, but a receiver or a set-top box will also do the trick. To get your TV and your mobile device synced up, just head into “Settings” and then tap on “Pair YouTube TV.” From there you’ll enter in the “Pairing Code” and the name you want to give the TV. To get the code, open up the YouTube app on your TV.

YouTube also announced that the app is available on over 400 million devices, and over 25% of YouTube’s video viewing comes from mobile devices. That’s technically not too surprising, though, as smartphones and tablets have been taking the world by storm lately, and video watching while on the go is becoming quite prevalent.

The fan’s video was then taken down for apparent “copyright” infringement. In its place, NASCAR had placed its own video that shows the crash from its own cameras. The video does show exactly what happened on the race track, however it didn’t show what happened to the traumatized crowd. NASCAR stated that they asked YouTube to take down the fan’s video “out of respect for those injured in today’s accident”.

YouTube has caught the error on their part. They released a statement stating that their partners and users do not have the right to take down other users’ videos unless “they contain content which is copyright infringing”. Because the fan’s video doesn’t infringe on NASCAR’s copyrights, YouTube has reinstated the video.

Removing the video is most likely just NASCAR trying to sprinkle some PR magic on a terrible event. A video depicting the terrified and injured fans from an accident that happened at one of their events is bad for publicity. That’s why they uploaded their own video, that while shows the accident, is much more friendly for its image. You can check out the fan’s video of the crash above.

[via Washington Post]

This change in the formula will have significant impact for a lot of artists and their music. For instance, the song Harlem Shake from Baauer has become a YouTube sensation with thousands and thousands of users each day uploading videos of themselves dancing to the tune. Thanks to the change in the Hot 100 formula, Harlem Shake will debut at number one this week on the chart.

According to the New York Times when Harlem Shake was first released last May as a free download the track received little attention. However, the song and videos of people dancing to it have gone viral via YouTube and its popularity has exploded. Reports indicate that over 4000 videos of people dancing to the song were going up on YouTube every day.

Reports also indicate that download sales and people listening to this track on streaming on services like Spotify have increased massively. According to the New York Times, the incredible online activity for Harlem Shake is what led Billboard to quickly move forward with changing how it ranks songs on the Hot 100 chart. Apparently, Billboard had been talking with YouTube for nearly 2 years on integrating metrics from the video sharing service into its Hot 100.

[via NYT]

Sources from Crackberry have been reporting that the issue isn’t originating from Blackberry’s side, and that it must be from YouTube. Both Google and YouTube have yet to comment on the issue. It’s speculated that it has something to do with YouTube and a change they may have made that alters the way videos are played through its mobile app.

There are some workarounds that should allow Blackberry 7 or 7.1 users to view YouTube videos. One option is downloading the Opera mobile browser, which is still able to display YouTube videos. This method however causes the YouTube videos to display in a lower quality. The second workaround is a bit more work, but has received some positive responses from the Crackberry community: Go to a Youtube video and click on the arrow icon on the top right of the video. This should reveal the ‘share’ icon. Press it and choose ‘e-mail’ to e-mail the link to your device. You can then view the video from the link in your e-mail. The full quality of the videos are retained in this method.

Thankfully, Blackberry’s Z10 is unaffected by this YouTube issue. It would be terrible if their supposed ‘game-changing’ device became a victim of this. Hopefully YouTube, or Blackberry figures out what’s behind the mobile app malfunction. Until then, those of you with the affect Blackberry 7 devices will just have to sit tight with those workarounds. We’ll let you know more when we do.

[via Crackberry]

YouTube users voted on their favorite Super Bowl advertisement for the past two weeks, and it’s not too surprising that Dodge won the crown. Their ad was a bold step towards originality, using strictly photos and a voice-over from the late Paul Harvey, who was a famous radio broadcaster for over a half-century. While the ad may not have been comical or fast-paced, it tugged at the heart strings for many viewers.

Rounding out the top five Super Bowl ads on YouTube include Budweiser’s “Clydesdales” ad, Samsung’s “The Next Best Thing” featuring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, Jeep’s “Whole Again” ad, and Hyundai’s “Team” ad. All five of these adds have a combined 62.7 million views as of this writing, with the most being Samsung’s ad with 21.3 million views.

In total, these five ads made up more than 30% of all total views of Super Bowl ads and teasers on YouTube. Plus, the Ad Blitz channel itself had over 46 million interactions. To celebrate the end of Ad Blitz, YouTube is hosting a Google+ Hangout later today at 3 pm ET where they will chat with the “creative heavyweights behind these winning ads, along with ADWEEK editors James Cooper and Tim Nudd.”

Announced last fall, <free time> blends live and on-demand content with a “backwards” EPG that allows users to look at what shows they missed as well as what’s upcoming. Those titles – assuming Freesat has a deal with the provider – are then pulled in streaming form from iPlayer and other web services, within <free time>’s HTML5 interface.

Freesat says [pdf link] that it’s that HTML5 platform which makes enabling YouTube so straightforward, since the official Google app is also made in HTML5. Of course, it also means you need a web connection to your Freesat set-top box in order to access the streaming services.

According to Freesat, which launched back in 2008 as a subscription-free way to access satellite content, the company has seen its 3 millionth sale recently. It also claims growth is considerably outpacing rival UK services, such as Sky and BT Vision, with 55,000 new households supposedly signing up in Q3 2013.

Amazon delivered its Q4 2012 results today, posting a net loss of $39 million for the year. Just the same, Gameloft’s Q4 2012 saw record sales, so the company is looking pretty good going into 2013. The EFF clarified the new laws against jailbreaking today, and this week retailers gained the ability to charge you for credit card purchases. XMBC 12 is now available with support for Android and Raspberry Pi, while Google is donating 15,000 of the inexpensive computers to UK students.

The HTC HD2 has been hacked to run Windows RT, while Electronic Arts announced that SimCity will be coming to Mac this spring. We learned of some rather strange-sounding fixes to the iPhone 5′s “greyed Wi-Fi” issue, and Samsung has announced that it will buy medical imaging company NeuroLogica. After a bit of a situation involving adult videos on Vine, Twitter has remedied the problem, while YouTube is said to be considering paid content in 2013.

500px is now back on the App Store after a porn problem of its own, and the ban on unlocking phones has resulted in a petition on the official White House website. New interest from the US Department of Justice will probably result in delays for the Sprint/Softbank deal, so don’t expect to close very fast. Acer is hinting at some new budget tablets to take on the likes of Google and Amazon, while we also heard that the iPad 5 will be smaller than previous iterations. NVIDIA has released a new beta driver in time for the Crysis 3 multiplayer beta, Pinterest is readying a new site design, and Hawken showed us some fancy PhysX graphics in a new trailer. Finally tonight, we have a review of the Dell XPS One 27 for you to check out, along with a first drive of the KIA Sorento and Forte. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of the night folks!

YouTube is said to have contacted a “small group” of content producers on YouTube, asking them to create paid channels that will cost anywhere between $1 and $5 a month, which isn’t too expensive at all, when you consider that this is just for one YouTube channel, the cost can add up, resulting in spending up to $20 per month for just four channels.

In addition to charging for content via channels, YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events — their own version of pay-per-view in a way. Other than that, though, nobody’s sure what channels YouTube is making deals with, but AdAge says that they’ve been contacting highly-popular channels about the new system.

YouTube knows that its users probably won’t enjoy the fact that they’ll have to start paying for the content that they’ve been watching for free, but it’s said that YouTube is recommending the channels to take in consideration of how their audience reacts to the new system. Then again, since more and more people are cutting cable, paying for a few subscriptions on YouTube will still end up being cheaper in the long run.

[via AdAge]

That data estimates Facebook’s active user count was at 693 million at the end of 2012. Compare that the estimatated 343 million Google+ users at the end of the year, and it’s easy to see that Google+ has quite a bit of catching up to do. Still, that was enough to move Google+ in front of Twitter, with YouTube following closely behind.

As Forbes points out, it’s important to remember that these are active user counts – meaning this doesn’t represent total users – and that it doesn’t take much to make one an active user, especially with the number of services and other websites tied to these social networks in one way or another. Take YouTube, for instance – if Google were to link YouTube with Google+, it could make the number of active Google+ members skyrocket.

In any case, don’t expect numbers to start falling anytime soon, as we’re seeing Google, Facebook, and Twitter do more and more to integrate their social platforms with our lives each and every day. Google+ has a lot of ground to make up in its battle against Facebook, but it’s far from dead like some on the Internet would have you believe. Stay tuned, because this shows that the battle of the social networks is heating up, and in the meantime, be sure to check out SlashGear’s own Google+ page.

[via Android Community]

The update to the video recording app was pushed to the App Store today, and it now allows users to upload at full resolution with their iPhone or iPod Touch (sorry, Android users — no support just yet). Google also added some improved sharing features to the new app. YouTube Capture now lets you share any clip you’ve uploaded to any of your social networks. Previously, once you uploaded a video, you couldn’t share it to services like Facebook Google+, or Twitter.

Other than that, the updated app also now includes improved audio sync and improved upload speeds, so now you’ll be able to get those videos up on your YouTube channel even faster. The app already offers some cool editing features that allow for color correction, image stabilization, trimming, and even background music.

The update also comes with the usual bug fixes and stability improvements, and although the option to record and upload in 1080p is now available, you can still choose either 360p or 720p in the settings in case you’re strapped for data, or need to upload something quickly. YouTube Capture is a free download and the update is available now in the iTunes App Store.

YouTube showed some pretty impressive growth in the final months of 2012, climbing from 20% market share when it was released in September to 44.5% by the end of December. It isn’t much of a surprise that YouTube has become so popular on iOS, considering that it’s far and away the most popular video streaming site on the Internet. If YouTube’s growth is impressive, that makes the rise of Google Maps astounding, as the app launched to 5.7% market share in mid-December and managed to reach market share that was just under 30% by the end of the month.

Though Google Search was holding pretty steady over the last half of 2012, Onavo’s graph shows a significant uptick in the app’s market share in the lead up to its October 30 voice update, rising from 14% to 16%. Gmail spent most of the second half in the single digits, but after the launch of Gmail 2.0 on December 4, we see the service begin to climb toward 10% market share. Google Drive was another iOS app to benefit from updates, as it only had a US market share 0.8% in July. That rose to 3.6% by the time December was over, and the fact that Google added all new features to the app on November 28 probably helped with that.

Google Chrome also has an update to thank for a rise in market share, as it was actually suffering a bit of a decline before a November update hit. In October, Chrome’s market share was down to around 7%, but thanks to that update, it has come up to 9.5%. That isn’t bad at all, so it seems that Google has a handful of attractive iOS apps on its hands as we head into 2013. If you’ve got a few minutes on your hands, be sure to check out Onavo’s full report on the state of Google’s iOS apps in the US.