Marc Cuban still thinks so. Time will tell, but I don’t think so.
The markets are changing. This isn’t the Napster era of brash copyright battles. Maybe it’s the impact of the Asian markets. Maybe it’s the success of the iTunes distribution channel. Maybe it’s the competitive forces of publishers, video services, and the like moving online unlike before. Or maybe it’s just about time.
Yes, in business it’s often about timing. YouTube may have just picked the right time.
Now as to whether Google should have paid $1.65 billion for YouTube, that’s another issue. In my mind, Google is the best match for YouTube of the GYM three and Google ought to deserve a discount for that. Of course the world doesn’t work that way. On the other side, Google can use YouTube’s video community. It’s been unable to create one up to this point and now instantly Google has one. A big one.
Now Google needs to encourage the YouTube team to improve the video experience, to fix audio synching, and update its lacking search capabilities. Yes, YouTube needs some work. At $1.65 billion it’s still a fixer upper. Isn’t that the way technology always is? 🙂