MySpace on the Trail of YouTube

The success of YouTube in the booming world of online video has led to the $1.65 billion buyover by Google. This has inspired another online vide provider, MySpace from News Corporation to seriously challenge YouTube for the market share.

MySpace has renamed its video-sharing service on its popular social network to MySpace TV. Like YouTube, users can now visit to share and watch video clips even though they have yet to register to MySpace. Nevertheless, the style of operation by the site is different from YouTube. This site focuses on professional video instead of low quality amateur home made video. In other words, it captures a niche market for quality video clips. For instance, thousand of users have watched Sony’s Minisodes which are five-minute versions of ‘80s sitcoms like “Diff’rent Strokes” and “Silver Spoons”, exclusively shown in MySpace.

Can MySpcae TV’s strategy work? Is it too elitist? Internet users must be more discerning in taste for MySpace is cutting into YouTube lead. When given a choice, they opt for better quality and great content. While YouTube recorded hits of 57.9 million in April, MySpace already has 50.2 million US viewers. MySpace is creeping up on YouTube silently and surely despite the fact that YouTube’s viewers span a wider geographical coverage.

Of course YouTube will not rest on its laurels. It has recently tested new tools which enable its users to chat while watching the same clip. This interactive video sharing experience is sure to be a hit amongst internet users. As the website gets bigger with an increasing volume of users, the challenge is for the provider to make the content easier to navigate and more user friendly.