| Printed On: | July 21, 2008, 5:20 am | |
| Category: | Software & Web | |
| Type: | News | |
| Posted By: | Shamino | |
| Date Posted: | September 19, 2006, 5:48 am |
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Microsoft to Launch Video Service to rival YouTube
Microsoft will start testing an Internet video-sharing service called Soapbox, the software company's answer to Web sensation YouTube. Soapbox is one facet of Microsoft's strategy to create attractive Internet content to lure away billions of Web advertising dollars from market leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. Offering everything from funny home videos to clips from old TV shows, YouTube sprang out of nowhere late last year as an entertainment break for millions of broadband Web surfers. In August, the site had 34 million visitors, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Soapbox will be offered to a limited number of users during an invitation-only test phase, but Microsoft said it will go fully live as a part of MSN Video within six months. "We're definitely not blind to the fact that YouTube has a big lead right now," said Rob Bennett, general manager of MSN's entertainment and video services. "It's really early days in online video. This is still act one."
Microsoft's late arrival into the crowded video-sharing market, following offerings from Google, Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit and News Corp.'s social networking site MySpace. Last month, Sony agreed to pay $65 million to buy video-sharing site Grouper.com. Focused on original programming and clips from broadcast partners, MSN Video was once the most popular Internet video site until fans of user-generated content propelled YouTube, MySpace and Google past Microsoft in recent months.
The runaway success of free-to-view online video sites has raised the question of whether rights holders such as music, TV and movie companies should be compensated, even if clips are uploaded by users. In a departure from its past strategy of restricting MSN Video to its Internet Explorer browser and Windows Media Player, Microsoft will make Soapbox available for various browsers including Mozilla Firefox and Apple Computer Inc.'s Safari.
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