This could be the biggest video sharing/ web 2.0 fail ever…
Remember the Susan Boyle ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ video from Britain’s Got Talent; the one that you are sick to the back teeth of seeing and the one that was just parodied on South Park?
Well, by most measures, the clip has amassed an overall total of 100 million views and counting. Given that a good chunk of the video plays were from YouTube and the official BGT channel, you would have thought the two would have teamed up and invented some new and exciting ways to print their own money.
Only, according to Mashable, that is not the case. The official Susan Boyle video (which you can also see here) has made the the show and Tube $0 to date. Yep, nothing.
The fail to get stupidly rich comes as the two sides butt heads over precisely how ads could be served over the clip. Tube wants their usual crappy overlay thingys, that you can click off. ITV, who owns the show, wants pre-roll which are ads that play before the clip and are harder to ignore.
By some estimates, video of Boyle’s performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent has already amassed more than 100 million video views, Britain’s ITV – who owns the rights to the show – and YouTube – where most of the views have taken place – have been unable to reach a revenue share deal, meaning no ads have been served, and more than a “million-pound windfall” has been missed.
The holdup is apparently over ad formats, as ITV wants pre-rolls and YouTube doesn’t. The Times of London quotes ITV’s director of online saying, “We don’t want to be part of YouTube’s standard terms and conditions, because content like Susan Boyle is unique … I think both sides are being hard-nosed and commercial about it.” YouTube, the article notes, prefers overlay and text ads, which have been increasingly showing up on videos around the site. (via the ever great Mashable)
The fight has dragged out for so long that is seems neither side has realised that virtually the entire profit potential of the clip is behind it.
This is a pretty epic fail from two sides who should damn well know better.
WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s sad. They could have made some big stacks off this video.
The execs totally already sleep on piles of money already, but this eff up has gotta burn!