YouTube confirmed today that it has acquired online video production and distribution company Next New Networks.
Does that mean YouTube is actually going to start producing its own videos It sounds like the answer is no, according to a company blog post. YouTube says:
At YouTube, wea4‚¬a4„re focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners. This new group and the addition of the Next New Networks team doesna4‚¬a4„t change that. But being a great platform for creators also means helping our partners get the tools and guidance they need to develop higher quality videos and drive bigger audiences to their work.
So instead of asking the Next New Networks team to create videos, YouTube says it will become a a4‚¬Alaboratory for experimentation and innovationa4‚¬¯ working with a4‚¬Aa wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube.a4‚¬¯ To achieve this goal, the company is creating a new unit called YouTube Next.
This approach seems pretty logical. YouTube has been notoriously unprofitable for Google for years now (though there are rumblings thata4‚¬a4„s finally changing), in part because brands were leery about putting their advertising next to YouTubea4‚¬a4„s user-generated content. Thata4‚¬a4„s why YouTube wants to bring in more professional, high-quality videos. Partnerships are probably a more effective way to make that happen than creating the content itself.
The acquisition price is less than $100 million, according to The New York Times, which first reported on the deal in December. Next New Networks has raised $26 million from Goldman Sachs, Velocity Interactive, Saban Media Group, Spark Capital, and others.
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Companies: Google, Next New Networks, YouTube
Companies: Google, Next New Networks, YouTube
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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