Google
Video search ready for playback
By Elinor Mills, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: June 27, 2005, 2:55 PM
PT
Google on Monday launched its new Web-based
video search service, which allows people to use
keywords to search the company's indexed database
of video from Unicef, Greenpeace, CNET Networks
and others that have uploaded content since April.
As previously reported, the search engine complements
Google's existing site, which lets people search,
but not yet play back, the closed-caption text of
television shows from PBS, CNN and others that Google
has hosted.
Now the video index includes the new content, which
is marked by a triangle icon. Users need to download
Google Video Viewer from the site. Once they have,
they can watch an entire video piece or start viewing
at the section that includes their search keywords.
The content ranges from lighthearted video of break
dancing or monkeys doing karate to such historical
video as the Saddam Hussein statue being yanked
down by American soldiers in Iraq. Google representatives
declined to provide a more complete list of content
providers.
Google is locked in a heated race with Yahoo to
provide search for every type of content. Yahoo
launched a finalized version of its video search
in May.
Google Video is only available in English, and
the video viewer works only with Internet Explorer
versions 5 and higher and Firefox for Windows. There
are no advertisements on the site yet.
The service is another step in the search giant's
expansion into more comprehensive media services.
Google has confirmed it is working on a payment
system but says it will not be a direct competitor
to eBay's PayPal online payment system.
However, there is ample speculation that the payment
system will enable more broad-based video viewing.
Google is the only search provider that has all
the pieces to bring movies on demand via Internet
to the masses, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at
Gartner. Google will be able to charge per-view
or subscription fees, as well as insert ads into
the video stream, he said.
"They are actually the first ones in this
video search business to basically show us an end-to-end
ecosystem," Weiner said.
"I think one of their strategic goals was
to create a technology and business model to attract
videos higher up in the food chain," such as
from movie studios, he said. "It won't be a
(lucrative) business until the next level of video
comes. This is big stuff."
Peter Chane, senior business product manager for
Google Video, declined to comment on the payment
program. "We are not making any announcements
about that," he said. "However, we are
committed to building a system that allows any type
of video content to be distributed and monetized
through Google."
Yahoo won't be the only company worried about Google's
video moves, one blogger said.
"Now, before we start discussing how this
represents the Death of Comcast/The Networks/Windows
Media Player et al, this is not quite that, but
it is the start of something big," John Battelle
wrote in his Searchblog. "For one, it's clear
this will be integrated with the Google payment
program which was revealed to be in process last
week."
Battelle also remarked on how Google's video search
service will provide free infrastructure for video
producers who aren't able to host and stream their
own content and help spread an "alternative
universe" for video distribution and playback--"one
independent of the walled garden business model
in which video is currently locked."
The frequently asked questions portion of Google's
video site says Google Video will only make content
available to users for free now.
However, the option to charge will eventually be
available and Google will take a "small revenue
share to cover some of our costs" and Google
may charge users a fee or take a larger percentage
of revenue for popular video that takes up higher
bandwidth, which anticipates a payment system.
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