Okay, not quite Hollywood, but only down the road.
Google have opened a vast, 41,000 square foot studio in Playa Vista, LA, that is entirely for use by the most promising YouTube talent. You don’t need to pay a dime to use their cutting edge facilities, but you do need to have demonstrated that you have what it takes to bring in the views (100,000 views a month to be specific). And so the top content creators of YouTube are abandoning their web cams and flocking from all over to the robotic HD cameras, green screens and free sushi of Playa Vista.
So what’s in it for Google? While ad prices on YouTube remain relatively low in comparison to more traditional media, Google are optimistic that this will change. The site already has over one billion regular users and increasingly many of those are now ditching traditional television entirely for online alternatives. As this trend continues the advertising potential of YouTube is expected to explode, hence recent projections by Morgan Stanley that YouTube could be enjoying a $20 billion turnover in six years. Suddenly this investment by Google starts to make sense….
Dan
