The battle between Viacom and YouTube rages on, this time with the Big V asking YouTube to remove more than 100,000 clips.

Viacom is taking control of their content, distributing their own embed code for clips from Comedy Central. CNET reported that experts believe this strategy is to find a “workaround” to the popular video sharing site. “Why is it better for people to consume our video on YouTube rather than my site?” Erik Flannigan, senior vice president of digital media for Comedy Central, asked CNET News.com.

Good for Viacom and Mr. Flannigan. They are finally starting to see the light, and hopefully leading the way for other content owners to take back what is rightfully theirs. More importantly - and a common theme here on OVW - Comedy Central and Viacom will not only be in control of their copyrights, but the quality of the video experience.

The YouTube experience has, to this point, lacked quality in its content. Users capturing video on their PCs from their DVRs using $79 video capture cards doesn’t result in a quality product. With Comedy Central in control, they can ensure that the level of quality meets their standards.

Additionally, by controlling the embed code, Viacom enables their broadcast and online advertisers to deliver branded messaging and ads along with those clips. ComedyCentral is already monetizing some of the content on their site with advertising, and video ad specialists Tremor Media and Nabbr have enabled other short form content, such as music videos, to be shared and monetized as clips are posted on personal web pages.

Unfortunately for Viacom, the vast amount of content on YouTube will make it difficult to filter out the home-brew clips. Additionally, users that don’t give a hoot about copyright will use the same tactics as they did when Napster began to limit the copyright infringement on its P2P network. Sure they pulled down the “Beatles” songs, but anyone searching for “Beetles” found plenty of songs from the Fab Four.

But my hat is off to Viacom for taking control of their own video strategy, and not kowtowing to YouTube’s power du jour.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 3:04 pm and is filed under News, Streaming, User Generated, WebTV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.