14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube has announced that it will expand its Content ID program to integrate with YouTube Insight, a tool used to monitor all sorts of viewing stats for the videos uploaded to the site. Content ID was originally created to check uploaded videos for infringing content but increasingly it's turning from a policing tool to one used for generating actual revenue for both the site and for the original copyright owners.
“Today, we're excited to integrate Content ID with YouTube Insight. Previously, when you claimed a video with Content ID, we were only able to show you basic information (like view counts and tags) associated with the video you claimed. But now, all the statistics and data we share directly with uploaders in YouTube Insight is available to Content ID partners too, making our content management tools more useful than ever — especially for partners whose claimed user videos generate lots of views for them,” Martin Landers, Insight software engineer, and Walter Lee, Content ID product manager, wrote.
Content ID has somewhat of a troubled history. It was originally developed to calm the fears of content owners two years ago in the wake of the Viacom lawsuit, which is still undergoing. At the time the system was distrusted by the rights owners at it required them to make all of their content available for comparison. In time the copyright holders learned to trust it and the program now has over 1,000 partners including every major TV broadcaster, movie studio and music label, YouTube claims.
But what's more interesting is how the information it gathers is used. Content ID scans videos and reports to the copyright holders if they are infringing on some of their content be it music or video. The idea was at first that the owners would ask YouTube to take down the offending content but more and more are choosing to leave it on the site and instead generate revenue either by linking to the original source or by serving ads with it.
This is where the new integration comes in. By allowing Content ID users to view much more detailed data on how many users are viewing the video, where it is spreading and so forth, YouTube hopes that more companies will see the value in leaving it on YouTube and start making money from it and exemplifies with the ever popular JK Wedding Dance Video.