Brands & Branding and Private Labels Case Study

Marketing the 'YouTube' Way

OR

Abstract:
YouTube.com was a video sharing Web site where users could upload, share and watch videos for free. In less than 2 years of its existence, YouTube ranked amongst the Web’s top 50 sites and had 16 million daily viewers. By August 2006, it had the highest market share in the free video sharing Web site category. YouTube had introduced two new advertising avenues named ‘Brand Channels’ and ‘Participatory Video Ads’ to encash its huge audience base and soaring popularity. But at the same time, YouTube’s success story seemed to be eclipsed by allegations of copyright violations for the non-permissible content posted on its Web site. YouTube also faced a challenge to maintain its rapid paced growth and competition from other emerging me-too kind of startups.

In October 2006, Google announced the acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock-for-transaction. Would YouTube be able to derive benefit from its association with the global reach and technology leadership of Google or get further entangled in lawsuits after being acquired by a cash-rich technology giant?

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the business model and functioning of YouTube
• To examine the critical success factors for YouTube as a company
• To study the marketing strategies of YouTube
• To understand Internet advertising and development of alternative media.

Keywords : YouTube, Google, Video Sharing Web site, Video Hosting Web site, User Generated Content, Brand Channels, Participatory Video Ads, Broadcast Yourself, Video Advertising, Steve Chan and Chad Hurley, Internet Advertising, Alternative Media, Viral Marketing, Branding, Advertising, Marketing, Brands & Branding Case Study, Emerging Media Opportunity