As YouTube and Hulu continue to fight for online viewers’ hearts and minds, YouTube is banking that users–and advertisers–will see that it has its priorities straight. After all, what’s more important in the grand scheme of things, offering full-length Disney movies and shows online like Hulu or aiding a nervous father in bringing new life into the world like YouTube?
While Hulu is fast cornering the market for premium online content, having just signed on Disney as a full partner and provider of feature films and full-length TV shows, YouTube continues to win out in overall market share and has seemingly cornered the short video segment. And sometimes, access to short instructional videos can make all the difference. Just ask U.K. dad Marc Stephens.
RealTechNews reports that Stephens, who already had three children with his wife Jo, knew she had a history of quick deliveries. When she started to feel some discomfort, he surfed to YouTube and watched several short how-to videos on delivering babies–including this one on how to deliver a baby in a taxi–just in case.
And he was glad he did. Before a midwife or paramedics could arrive, Jo went into full-blown labor and Marc was forced to handle the delivery solo. But with his newly acquired YouTube-provided expertise, Marc was able to delivery the baby just fine, and was actually congratulated by the paramedics when they arrived on a “job well done.”
While YouTube by no means has given up on getting a foothold in the premium full-length online market–it’s been hard at work copying the best aspects of Hulu to make it happen–it owns the short video segment outright. And in the end, that short video segment could be just as–if not more–lucrative. But the key for YouTube is to get advertisers to realize the opportunities available via short-form videos–and Stephens’ story goes a long way toward making that point.
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