6 ms·

YouTube Killer Gets $100M in Funding

12 points by horatio05 19y ago

pg 19y ago
Providence Equity Partners? $100m? This doesn't sound like a startup. And that means they won't get startup quality people to work on it. And that means they are doomed.
- alex_c 19y ago
  Doomed? No way! They'll get the very best consultants money can buy to build an enterprise solution that will leverage their strategic advantages. It'll be enterprise!! It can't possibly fail, and I'm sure they have the powerpoints to prove it. (having worked for banks/government... I can imagine how the $100 million will be spent... and I can only laugh).
  - parker 19y ago
    lol, I can picture it as well... it brings to mind that memorable quote from the movie Contact: "What's the first rule of government spending...? Why buy only one when you can have two for twice the cost?" This entire venture feels like the startup equivalent of Gigli: it seemed ridiculous before it was released, and even more ridiculous afterwards.
- rms 19y ago
  This is where NBC and Fox's content is going to be available online, so this company with no name will not be going away, unless it collapses before the launch. In the long term, the advertising revenues from NBC and Fox's online video should be very respectable. As long as the shows are free to watch, it won't be a disastrous failure because there aren't many places to easily and legally watch online network TV. The best way to compete with piracy is to give your media away. If they insist on charging for everything, it'll fail.
blored 19y ago
Large corporations are not entrepreneurial, it's not in their nature. They're already throwing government-like money at it.
- natrius 19y ago
  Large groups of people aren't good at entrepreneurship. That doesn't mean a large corporation can't give a small group of people autonomy to go off and do their own thing. You don't get all of the benefits of being a startup, but you still get some of them. But yeah, this is definitely going to fail.
- nanijoe 19y ago
  Microsoft is a large corporation..Go ask Netscape , Wordperfect ,Lotus 1-2-3 etc whether Microsoft is entrepreneural or not.
  - staunch 19y ago
    I'm not sure those are examples of entrepreneurship as much as ruthless competitiveness. At least one of those defeats was proven to be done illegally. They're all over a decade old. You ask Google, Apple, and Ubuntu whether Microsoft scares them.
    - run4yourlives 19y ago
      I think he was being facetious.
      - nanijoe 19y ago
        I actually was not. Whether or not you approve of MSFT's tactics, you really can't accuse them of not being able to respond to market challenges. Google may not be scared of them, but I would personally rather take my chances against NBC (for example) than go head to head with MSFT.
        run4yourlives 19y ago
mark-t 19y ago
You know, if they keep giving YouTube free advertising, they'll never kill it. Just look at cereal killers.
far33d 19y ago
Fluuuuush.
weeblyrocks 19y ago
It won't be a YouTube killer but this could be an intelligent strategic move to segregate their own assets and block them from YouTube. YouTube survives because most media companies don't have the balls to protect their own assets. By creating their own portal they can create what they can force people to the site because it has content people want to see. As long as it is free and easy to use, people will use it. All of you haters are just clowns who don't understand how the real world works. PG is flat out wrong here.
- pg 19y ago
  You say I'm wrong, but in your first sentence you agree with me. I'm not saying that this site will never get any visitors. Just that it will never be anything more than a site that happens to host the content of Fox and NBC-- i.e. no more than they could have got by simply putting their stuff on their existing sites, without starting a separate company as a joint venture. If you're so sure I'm wrong, bet me. I'll be happy to bet you money if we can think of a sufficiently precise test.
  - weeblyrocks 19y ago
    No, you said it is "doomed". If your definition of doomed means that they are not going to be the #1 video sharing site on the internet, that's a pretty interesting definition of doomed. That definition would make the following companies "doomed": - Yahoo - Facebook - BP - Unilever - Anyone else who isn't #1 in their space Usually when people say "doomed", they imply that something fails. A usual definition of "failure" with regards to companies is something that is unprofitable and fails to gain traction. I doubt that either of those will apply to this new venture launched by News Corp and GE - the parent companies of Fox and NBC. Big companies make plenty of mistakes, but when this much is at stake and $100 MM is being invested by a third-party, they're going to make something happen. I'm willing to bet you that their venture will be within the Top 5 video sharing sites within 2 years of launch and will not shut down within 2 years of launch.
    - ivankirigin 19y ago

12 points by horatio05 19y ago

pg 19y ago

Providence Equity Partners? $100m? This doesn't sound like a startup. And that means they won't get startup quality people to work on it. And that means they are doomed.

alex_c 19y ago
Doomed? No way! They'll get the very best consultants money can buy to build an enterprise solution that will leverage their strategic advantages. It'll be enterprise!! It can't possibly fail, and I'm sure they have the powerpoints to prove it. (having worked for banks/government... I can imagine how the $100 million will be spent... and I can only laugh).
- parker 19y ago
  lol, I can picture it as well... it brings to mind that memorable quote from the movie Contact: "What's the first rule of government spending...? Why buy only one when you can have two for twice the cost?" This entire venture feels like the startup equivalent of Gigli: it seemed ridiculous before it was released, and even more ridiculous afterwards.
rms 19y ago
This is where NBC and Fox's content is going to be available online, so this company with no name will not be going away, unless it collapses before the launch. In the long term, the advertising revenues from NBC and Fox's online video should be very respectable. As long as the shows are free to watch, it won't be a disastrous failure because there aren't many places to easily and legally watch online network TV. The best way to compete with piracy is to give your media away. If they insist on charging for everything, it'll fail.

blored 19y ago

Large corporations are not entrepreneurial, it's not in their nature. They're already throwing government-like money at it.

natrius 19y ago
Large groups of people aren't good at entrepreneurship. That doesn't mean a large corporation can't give a small group of people autonomy to go off and do their own thing. You don't get all of the benefits of being a startup, but you still get some of them. But yeah, this is definitely going to fail.
nanijoe 19y ago
Microsoft is a large corporation..Go ask Netscape , Wordperfect ,Lotus 1-2-3 etc whether Microsoft is entrepreneural or not.
- staunch 19y ago
  I'm not sure those are examples of entrepreneurship as much as ruthless competitiveness. At least one of those defeats was proven to be done illegally. They're all over a decade old. You ask Google, Apple, and Ubuntu whether Microsoft scares them.
  - run4yourlives 19y ago
    I think he was being facetious.
    - nanijoe 19y ago
      I actually was not. Whether or not you approve of MSFT's tactics, you really can't accuse them of not being able to respond to market challenges. Google may not be scared of them, but I would personally rather take my chances against NBC (for example) than go head to head with MSFT.
      - run4yourlives 19y ago

mark-t 19y ago

You know, if they keep giving YouTube free advertising, they'll never kill it. Just look at cereal killers.

far33d 19y ago

Fluuuuush.

weeblyrocks 19y ago

It won't be a YouTube killer but this could be an intelligent strategic move to segregate their own assets and block them from YouTube. YouTube survives because most media companies don't have the balls to protect their own assets. By creating their own portal they can create what they can force people to the site because it has content people want to see. As long as it is free and easy to use, people will use it. All of you haters are just clowns who don't understand how the real world works. PG is flat out wrong here.

pg 19y ago
You say I'm wrong, but in your first sentence you agree with me. I'm not saying that this site will never get any visitors. Just that it will never be anything more than a site that happens to host the content of Fox and NBC-- i.e. no more than they could have got by simply putting their stuff on their existing sites, without starting a separate company as a joint venture. If you're so sure I'm wrong, bet me. I'll be happy to bet you money if we can think of a sufficiently precise test.
- weeblyrocks 19y ago
  No, you said it is "doomed". If your definition of doomed means that they are not going to be the #1 video sharing site on the internet, that's a pretty interesting definition of doomed. That definition would make the following companies "doomed": - Yahoo - Facebook - BP - Unilever - Anyone else who isn't #1 in their space Usually when people say "doomed", they imply that something fails. A usual definition of "failure" with regards to companies is something that is unprofitable and fails to gain traction. I doubt that either of those will apply to this new venture launched by News Corp and GE - the parent companies of Fox and NBC. Big companies make plenty of mistakes, but when this much is at stake and $100 MM is being invested by a third-party, they're going to make something happen. I'm willing to bet you that their venture will be within the Top 5 video sharing sites within 2 years of launch and will not shut down within 2 years of launch.
  - ivankirigin 19y ago