14 DAY TRIAL // In a move designed to be a repeat of the MSN vs. Live Search scenario, Microsoft also offers two locations for users to access online videos: MSN Video and Soapbox on MSN Video. It seems that with the Redmond company, bigger is indeed better, speaking from the perspective of multiple services delivering basically the same content. But MSN Video and Soapbox are nothing short of a crowd, and by no means a couple of complementary destinations for online video. Additionally, Microsoft has made a decisive move in terms of enforcing intellectual property on both MSN Video and Soapbox, unlike its direct rivals. And while competitors thrive on the thin and blurred line between the amalgam of user-uploaded content and their own responsibility to police content infringing materials, Microsoft has already chosen sides. And as a consequence, the Redmond company is nothing more than a bottom feeder on the online video service market.
The conclusion can be drawn from the Internet metrics statistics provided for the U.S. market by comScore. Microsoft is a weak link on the online video market in July, grabbing just an insignificant percentage of eyeballs from the "75 percent of U.S. Internet users that watched an average of three hours of online video during" July, according to comScore. "July saw Americans view more than 9 billion videos online, with Google Sites once again ranking as the top U.S. video property with nearly 2.5 billion videos viewed (27.0 percent share of videos), 2.4 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 390 million (4.3 percent), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 298 million (3.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 281 million (3.1 percent)," comScore revealed.
And while Google was serving in excess of 2.4 billion videos in July, thanks mainly to YouTube, Microsoft failed to reach the 150 million milestone with the combined results from Soapbox and MSN Video. And the fact of the matter is that although brand and appeal are also pillars of the recipe that attracts users to YouTube, the online video service built its success on allowing users to upload content without restrictions and with a flagrant disregard for intellectual property. Google only introduced relaxed filtering policies after Viacom slapped it with a $1 billion lawsuit. In contrast, Microsoft is not so loose, and with Soapbox still in Beta, it delivered proactive filtering technology from Audible Magic.
Microsoft revealed that "by using this technology, we see this as an important step to ensure the viability and success of Soapbox over the long run. We are committed to provide a great experience for people to find and share their personal videos on Soapbox on MSN Video." And a great experience translates into the image included at the top of this article, featuring a succinct apology for materials that have been removed due to piracy concerns. In the long run, zero piracy and removed content are equivalent to no user experience at all. It is no wonder that Microsoft is struggling to serve just 1.6% of all videos on the U.S. market. That's just 149 million out of over 9 billion. Microsoft online video services are nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
"In total, nearly 134 million Americans viewed online video in July, or approximately three in four U.S. Internet users. Google Sites also captured the largest online video audience with 67.8 million unique viewers, followed by Fox Interactive Media with 35.8 million and Yahoo! Sites with 35.3 million," comScore added. By comparison, Microsoft attracted almost 19 million viewers accounting for an Internet reach of 10.5%.