3 ms·

I think he is a little too ambitious in terms of who would be willing to pay for data. For those people who admire their stats out of curiosity, I doubt many wo

I think he is a little too ambitious in terms of who would be willing to pay for data. For those people who admire their stats out of curiosity, I doubt many would cough up money for it, especially for more than a month or two. Only companies who use Youtube for marketing and distribution would actually NEED their statistics, in any respect. Although I suppose, nevertheless, there will be a small, small group of super-users who want their demographics for whatever strange reason.

byoung2 17y ago
I agree...I think users would be even less likely to pay for something that used to be free. Maybe they could get users to pay for more detailed analytics, such as a breakdown by time/date, location, or a list of other videos users had watched. But this data would only be useful to a small fraction of YouTube users.
- stanleydrew 17y ago
  I actually think you might have an easier time selling something that used to be free. In any case I certainly don't think users are less likely to buy something that was free. If it's free first, users have already seen it so they know what it's worth. You're arguing that there's a set of people who would have been willing to pay for something had they not been given it for free first. But because it was free, all of a sudden they don't want it anymore once it costs money. I think that's a stretch. Also consider joe video-uploader who had never thought of paying for something like analytics, but since he's been using it for free and knows how valuable it is to him he can make a better informed decision as to whether it's worth $10/mo or whatever.
  - Tippingpoint 17y ago
    This is a great way to explain what I've seen happen. You have to set user's expectations that it's free now but not going to be free forever is fine... Thanks for commenting.
jporter 17y ago
I agree also. Guy Kawasaki calls this the "Chinese Soda Myth" - If we can get 0.X% of the population to buy our soda then we'll make $XX million. As a VC, he blames hearing this too often from startups as one of the reasons he has developed tinnitus :)
- Tippingpoint 17y ago
  I love this quote! I'm really just trying to make a point. Access to analytic data is valuable.

byoung2 17y ago

I agree...I think users would be even less likely to pay for something that used to be free. Maybe they could get users to pay for more detailed analytics, such as a breakdown by time/date, location, or a list of other videos users had watched. But this data would only be useful to a small fraction of YouTube users.

stanleydrew 17y ago
I actually think you might have an easier time selling something that used to be free. In any case I certainly don't think users are less likely to buy something that was free. If it's free first, users have already seen it so they know what it's worth. You're arguing that there's a set of people who would have been willing to pay for something had they not been given it for free first. But because it was free, all of a sudden they don't want it anymore once it costs money. I think that's a stretch. Also consider joe video-uploader who had never thought of paying for something like analytics, but since he's been using it for free and knows how valuable it is to him he can make a better informed decision as to whether it's worth $10/mo or whatever.
- Tippingpoint 17y ago
  This is a great way to explain what I've seen happen. You have to set user's expectations that it's free now but not going to be free forever is fine... Thanks for commenting.

jporter 17y ago

I agree also. Guy Kawasaki calls this the "Chinese Soda Myth" - If we can get 0.X% of the population to buy our soda then we'll make $XX million. As a VC, he blames hearing this too often from startups as one of the reasons he has developed tinnitus :)

Tippingpoint 17y ago
I love this quote! I'm really just trying to make a point. Access to analytic data is valuable.