Google-owned video site YouTube said yesterday it will begin introducing both free and paid video downloads, that will assist the company in finally monetising the site. Google chief executive Erich Schmidt said last year that the company was having difficulties in figuring out how to make money from the site. The site has already introduced links with YouTube partner videos, but now the videos themselves will be available for purchase.
YouTube will allow select partners to offer videos as either free downloads or paid downloads with the ability to set their own prices – a feature desperately wanted by music providers on iTunes. The site already includes a “My Purchases” tab so users can keep track of videos purchased.
The videos will be available in the MP4 format, and can be copied to other providers. Downloads are already available from Stanford, Duke, UC Berkeley, UCLA and UCTV, while Household Hacker, Khan Academy and Pogobat are offering paid downloads for a dollar.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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