News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation financially impossible. Parent comment

Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by jerf on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:11PM (#18435297)
Market leaders are generally in favor of regulation, for that exact reason. Sometimes they'll play the protest game in public, but privately they are happy to see regulation.

If YouTube is actually lobbying against this both in public and in private, then I would personally consider that extremely strong evidence this is really bad. However, I have no inside info on their private position.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by TulliusCicero on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:22PM (#18435386)
Well, they can be, but what if the regulations substantially shrink the market as a whole? May be more profitable to have 30% of a large market than 90% of a small one.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by alex_c on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:25PM (#18435406)
A lot of tech industries seem to be winner-take-all, so aiming for 30% might not be a sustainable plan in many cases.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by bduerst on Monday November 12, 2018 @06:15PM (#18436890)
Not really. Vimeo shows that you can corner niche markets successfully.

Profitability and growth aren't dependent on market dominance, even in tech.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by trjordan on Monday November 12, 2018 @09:08PM (#18437850)
YouTube Vimeo is more like 1% / 99%. By almost anybody's definition, that's winner take all.

Vimeo aims for $100mil this year: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iac-interactive-vimeo/iac...

YouTube Could be a $15 billion business this year: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/18/youtube-could-be-a...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by bduerst on Monday November 12, 2018 @09:19PM (#18437900)
Again, success isn't measured by marketshare, but profitability and growth. Vimeo has 15% of the embedded market by domain, and has managed to be profitable.

Even in your article it talks about how Youtube isn't exactly profitable, and is dragging down Google's average CPC for the business.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by mcv on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @08:05AM (#18440614)
A massive difference indeed, but by any other standard, $100 million is not bad at all.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by AJ007 on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @08:31AM (#18440765)
This isn't a good comparison. Netflix, Twitch, Snapchat, Facebook/Instagram are.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by AJ007 on Monday November 12, 2018 @06:11PM (#18436862)
Well at least that’s what companies that are losing lots of money like to tell their investors. I’ve heard it many times and can’t think of any definite examples.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by castlecrasher2 on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:40PM (#18435553)
If YouTube can afford it but their competitors go out of business in the EU how would the market shrink? Regulations tend to shrink only the providers, not the consumers.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by TulliusCicero on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:54PM (#18435689)
Youtube isn't really providing a necessity, it's providing an entertainment option. Consumers have lots of those. If it becomes very onerous or expensive to provide their content, then they (and other providers) may have to produce less of it, which would shrink the market.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by freeone3000 on Monday November 12, 2018 @06:33PM (#18436974)
Youtube doesn't create video content. Youtube is a video content reseller - and if it can't afford to buy people's video content, it's unlikely anyone else can. You're shrinking the size of the video provider market!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by DoctorOetker on Monday November 12, 2018 @10:50PM (#18438422)
perhaps it is the common goal? less societal criticism/feedback, more top down determination of media?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by thatguy0900 on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @01:13PM (#18443223)
I think most political commentators on YouTube that do it for money use patreon more than YouTube ads, many political subjects are demonetized automatically now. YouTube doesn't want to buy their content much regardless of if its able.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by CamperBob2 on Monday November 12, 2018 @09:04PM (#18437830)
Youtube isn't really providing a necessity, it's providing an entertainment option.

I think you'd be surprised at the reach of educational resources like Khan Academy and MIT's Open Courseware. These things aren't 'necessities' only if you don't consider it important to educate yourself.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by TulliusCicero on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @03:15AM (#18439481)
I'm aware, but entertainment is clearly where the overwhelming majority of YouTube watch hours come from. It's the same situation as with TV: educational TV exists, sure, but still nobody has a problem lumping TV watching under the "entertainment" category.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by sarcasmOrTears on Monday November 12, 2018 @09:22PM (#18437910)
But there are public universities and many programs in Europe, curated by experts that never get anything wrong, so why would we need some solly internet videos, right?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by chimeracoder on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:48PM (#18435621)
> If YouTube can afford it but their competitors go out of business in the EU how would the market shrink?

"The market" is a statement about demand, not supply. The market can still shrink if the legislation goes through, because the legislation can have secondary effects that cause people to be less interested in consuming content on a tube-style platform.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by AnthonyMouse on Monday November 12, 2018 @03:46PM (#18435601)
> May be more profitable to have 30% of a large market than 90% of a small one.

Or in this case, 80% of a large market more than 100% of a small one.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:YouTube CEO calls EU’s proposed copyright regulation fina... by mcphage on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @12:01PM (#18442536)
> If YouTube is actually lobbying against this both in public and in private, then I would personally consider that extremely strong evidence this is really bad. However, I have no inside info on their private position.

If the proposed law actually is too expensive for them, I could see them attempting to weaken it to a sweet spot where it's affordable for them, but expensive enough to still keep others out of the market.

[ Parent | on HN ]