14 DAY TRIAL // The Kelsey Group conducted a new survey revealing that 59 percent of the subjects are using online video sharing services like YouTube while more than a half are browsing the Internet for online shopping or just visiting webpages. YouTube is the most popular video product among those surveyed, most of them being attracted by homemade content uploaded by ordinary users. This is not something new, because the parent company Google struggled to honor the most active members by offering awards and promoting them to YouTube employees just like the company's Community Advocate.
"YouTube has largely popularized the concept of watching short videos on a computer screen and has likewise familiarized consumers with the idea of watching short video ads," said the report's author, Michael Boland, Kelsey Group senior analyst, according to a press release published on the official page of the company. "A wide range of business models are coming to market in the hopes of tapping into the growing demand for video. We are in a 'wild west' phase of experimentation on all fronts-content generation, licensing, search and monetization."
Recently, the online video sharing service hosted an event especially designed for the users of the product, codenamed 2006 YouTube User Awards, meant to honor the most popular creations uploaded by ordinary members. Obviously, the event had an impressive audience, most of the users being attracted by homemade content. This month, YouTube made another important step to lure more user-generated content after the company introduced The Sketchies, a special comedy show that requires members to upload their own funny videos and share them with other Internet users. As we expected, the contest has some attractive prizes because the winner of the competition has the chance to create his own comedy movie and include it into a commercial distributed to the television.