On-line Video

Can media groups duplicate the same strategic mistake the made with on-line music. With iTunes, Apple had taken the market by storm, established the rules, and behind, media groups are struggling to eat a piece of the cake. On the video market, the scenario is different. The market is just emerging, no one is the undisputable leader, and media groups control most f the top leaders. If YouTube leads with a 43% market share, MySpace (Murdoch group) is second with 24%, Yahoo! Video Search (9.6%) belonging to Yahoo, MSN Video Search (9%) from Microsoft, Google Video Search (6.5%) from Google, AOL Video (4,28 %) from Time Warner ; iFilm from Viacom (2,28 %), Grouper.com (0.7%) from the Sony Group. Furthermore, YouTube is a relatively small company with a market capitalization of under $1bn; not enough to frighten big media groups. Smaller players could also became a pray for hungry medias in coming months. The mood here is consolidation, Sony has just open the race in buying recently Grouper.com.