Deep pocketed Google announced today that they will be closing their Google Video service. Users will be unable to upload their video’s to Google Video within in the next couple months…however…existing videos already on the service will remain in place.
This follows identical measures taken by AOL Video in December 2008.
In the case of AOL, they more or less admitted the action was because they were bleeding money and couldn’t continue subsidizing the service. Google wasn’t quite as forthcoming. They simply said that Google Video is redundant with YouTube (which they also happen to own).
But you better believe they are stopping Google Video because it was bleeding money too. In fact, nearly all video sharing sites are. They rely on advertising, but they have difficulty attracting advertisers because the content on these sites is generally so poor.
I’ve also long warned people about the dangers of relying on video sharing sites to market their businesses. It’s simple math. If you’re running a service that is losing money, at some point you have to close the service. And if you’re relying on these services to drive traffic to your web site, that traffic will disappear along with the services.
I fully expect more popular video sharing sites to die over the coming year…or at least drastically change the way they operate.
So there’s your warning again. If you are currently spamming video sharing sites in the hopes of generating traffic, your free ride will one day (likely soon) be over. And like nearly everything else on the Internet, it will be the people developing quality video content and building faithful audiences who will survive (and thrive).