This wouldn't be a Search Engine Marketing Blog if I didn't at least make mention of Google's recent acquisition (within the last 24hrs) of the online video phenomenon known as YouTube. That's right! In the case you've been living under your desk for the last week, Google has agreed to purchase YouTube for a WHOPPING $1.65 Million Billion. A billion and a half dollars... that's freakin' crazy!

For those of you who are unaware... YouTube was founded in February of 2005 by 3 former PayPal employees. The company has since grown to over 60 employees, and has since vastly become a very popular video sharing website which lets it's users upload, view, and share video clips. Utilizing Adobe Flash technology to display video, YouTube hosts a wide variety of site content including movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video-blogging and personal home videos.

Just to give you all an idea of the kind of content you can find at YouTube... here is a link to one of my videos: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aM9wjqYHG6Y. You know the one... this video is infamous within our office!

Reviewing this whole situation... there is really only one factor that has me bothered, and that is simply the amount of the transaction. I don't know about you, but a million dollars is a lot of money... in this acquisition we're talking $1.65 Billion. What in the world was Google thinking when they agreed to pay so much for YouTube? Do they know something that no one else in the world knows? What could they possibly have up their sleeve?

After pondering these questions almost all night... well not all night, I did play about 4 hours of Super Mario Strikers (a really cool game for you gamers out there); I have come to 3 possible conclusions:

• Google, in attempt to become a major player in online video, probably felt that their current Google Video platform, released earlier this year, is not at all comparable to those of its immediate competition. Therefore, their only hope for becoming a true leader in the online video market was to buy one that is.



• Google really wants to be in control of YouTube's 1 million plus users, and solicit future users to sign-up via a Google account... similar to what Yahoo! has done with Flickr. Having more Google accounts under the company's belt will allow them more ways to solicit future products, not to mention track more individual user-behavior... no, Google wouldn't do that... would they?



• Anyone who is a frequent visitor of YouTube knows that Google is serving up advertisements on what seems like every page of the video giant's website. It is through this partnership that Google gets to monitor just how much web-traffic YouTube receives. I wouldn't be surprised if Google realized just how much money it stands to make now owning 100% of the money coming in through that ad distribution deal, rather than just the 20% or so it owned before.

I happened to check out YouTube this morning looking to see what immediate interface or logo changes had taken place overnight, and to my surprise there were none. I was certain "YouTube" would have been changed to "GooTube" or at least feature the Google logo somewhere on the homepage... but I was wrong. I did happen to find this video though:

Seriously... after actually seeing these guys (the creators of YouTube)... if they can create something worthy of $1.65 Billion... whom among us can't?