MySpaceTV Launches

MySpace has launched a TV service intended to take-on YouTube in the online video world.

MySpace has a pressing reason to take on YouTube more directly. Just as MySpaceTV is being fashioned to compete with YouTube, engineers at YouTube are busy developing social-networking features including enabling users to chat while they watch the same clip and share their favorite videos. So, the social networking site has some heavy competition on its hands.

This announcement, coupled with the Sony/Honda announcement about minisodes (edited four-to-six minute versions of thirty-to-sixty minute television shows) a few weeks ago, is a real sign that the industry is maturing beyond the niche, experimental stages. In fact, there are three key things worth noting which underline a new and exciting time for online video:

1/ Online video is now multi-country and multi-language – a classic sign of

maturation in the technology sector

2/ Users/viewers are now demanding higher quality (professional in

MySpaceTV’s case) content which is helping move the perception of online

video from niche to mainstream

3/ The Honda/Sony partnership shows inventiveness and a willingness to

experiment with the revenue models that will be essential for the industry’s
long-term self-sustainability. It also illustrates how players can make money

from the “long tail”