Google's Feeling Lucky

Question:

What are some current events in your industry? What is the impact of these events on the industry?

Articles in this blog post:

“Google Ponders Pay-TV business”

Article Summary:

As television distributors face competition from internet streaming and other major corporations in the industry, they now have to face a new threat: Google. Amidst the development of dozens of online YouTube channels and Google TV, software for televisions which lets both the internet and television channels be searched easily, Google has begun considering making its own cable services.

While not officially announced or commented on by Google, the evidence is piling up. There have been exploratory discussions with Disney and other content providers about distributing content from their channels, along with the recent hiring of Jeremy Stern, an executive from cable television, which indicate a desire to move into the television market. While more details have yet to be seen, many analysts think that a large company like Google or Apple will eventually make the jump into providing online service.

Analysis:

Google definitely has the potential to become an immediate threat to the media industry. While Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu have all trailblazed the streaming industry, Google has significantly more assets and has grown vertically and horizontally at a tremendous rate. Given the introduction of Google TV and the concept of making channels for viewing YouTube, it seems like Google has already made the first steps into the media distributor industry. As the article states, there’s also an incredibly large market at stake – subscriptions and advertisements for television produce $150 billion in revenue, and with the growing strength of both Google and the Internet a transition into media distribution would be welcomed by consumers.

Google has to be careful of moving too quickly. Netflix has lost respect for changing the prices of their service, along with attempting to grow too quickly – it would be incredibly easy for Google to become overly-ambitious and lose potential. Still, as of present Google’s presence strikes a fear in the current distributors due to the immense size of their possible competitor.