Media recognition

Media recognition
YouTube.com Screenshot
YouTube.com Screenshot
A screenshot of a profile.
A screenshot of a profile.

In its short time on the web, YouTube has grown quickly and received much attention. Online word-of-mouth has been primarily responsible for YouTube's growth since its inception, and gave the site its first surge of publicity when it hosted the popular Saturday Night Live short Lazy Sunday.[16] However, YouTube's official policy prohibits submission of copyrighted material, and NBC Universal, owners of SNL, soon decided to take action.

In February 2006, NBC asked for the removal of some of its copyrighted content from YouTube, including Lazy Sunday and 2006 Olympics clips.[7][17] The following month, in an attempt to strengthen its policy against copyright infringement, YouTube set a 10-minute maximum limit on video length (except for content submitted via its Director Program, which specifically hosts original material by amateur filmmakers). However, the real cutoff is 10:58.[citation needed] This restriction is often circumvented by uploaders, who instead split their original video into smaller segments, each shorter than the 10-minute limit.

Though YouTube had done its part to comply with NBC's demands, the incident made the news, giving YouTube its most prominent publicity yet. As the site continued to grow, NBC began to realize the possibilities, and in June 2006 made an unusual move. The network had reconsidered its actions and was announcing a strategic partnership with YouTube. Under the terms of the partnership, an official NBC channel was set up on YouTube, showcasing promotional clips for the series The Office. YouTube will also promote NBC's videos throughout its site.[18]

CBS, which had previously also asked YouTube to remove several of its clips, followed suit in July 2006. In a statement indicative of how the traditional media industry's perception of YouTube (and similar sites) has changed, Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports noted:
“ Our inclination now is, the more exposure we get from clips like that, the better it is for CBS News and the CBS television network, so in retrospect we probably should have embraced the exposure, and embraced the attention it was bringing CBS, instead of being parochial and saying ‘let’s pull it down.’[19] ”

In August of 2006, YouTube announced that, within 18 months, it hopes to offer every music video ever created, while still remaining free of charge. Warner Music Group and EMI have confirmed that they are among the companies in talks to implement this plan.[20] In September Warner Music and YouTube signed a deal, in which YouTube will be allowed to host every music video Warner produced while sharing a portion of the advertisement income. Additionally, user-created videos on YouTube will be allowed to use Warner songs in their soundtracks.[21]

On October 9, CBS, along with Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, also agreed to provide content to YouTube.[22]

On January 29, 2007, the co-founder of YouTube, Chad Hurley, announced that the on-line video service will pay its active users, who should also be true copyright owners, a part of the website's revenue gained from advertising. However, at the World Economic Forum, Mr. Hurley did not mention a concrete amount of money that YouTube will pay its contributors.[23]