After October 2007 Launch, Google Gives First Usage Update

Wednesday marked the first time since the Content ID program began that Mountain View, California-based Google had released information on how its 300 or so program partners have used it. "We've been curious to see what copyright holders would choose," David King, YouTube product manager wrote in a message revealing the 90 percent usage statistic on Google's official blog Wednesday.

Online media content providers such as Lionsgate, Electronic Arts, Universal Music, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney and CBS have all taken part in YouTube's Content ID program, which had been known as Video ID when first released, allowing them to choose what to do when YouTube encounters their copyrighted video content on the most popular video sharing site. Choices available to the owners of video content include:

• Complete exclusion from YouTube
• Allowing the content to reside on YouTube for promotional purposes
• Licensing the content for use on YouTube and entering into an agreement to share in revenue gained though advertising based on that content

Partners Overwhelmingly Seek Revenue Share

"As it turns out, our partners are choosing the latter, monetizing 90% of all claims created through Video ID," Kind wrote in the Wednesday message.

The system works by trying to identify complex identification signatures unique to every segment of video even before a YouTube user is able to add a video to the Web site, and goes well beyond the company's previous system in which illegally uploaded material could stay online until it was manually reported to YouTube.

The Content ID system, which was developed by Google's own engineers, attempts to identify copyrighted material based on key unique characteristics in original digital files provided beforehand from media content providers. A key part of the system is the requirement that media companies provide digital copies of their content to Google for analyzing and creating the unique identifying digital signatures needed in order for the system to work.

With it appearing that a full 90 percent of the partners in the Content ID program are choosing to leave their content online and allowing YouTube to earn money from their copyrighted material, which is then shared with them, some analysts expect the way the program is being used must be considered a success for Google's video property.

YouTube said the way Content ID is being used has lead to move people watching certain partner videos on its site. "This has led directly to a similarly significant increase in monetizable partner inventory, as our Video ID partners are seeing claimed content more than double their number of views, against which we can run ads," King noted of the 90 percent monetization adoption rate choice.

So-called Partner Uplift From Program As High As 9000 Percent

"This means that if a partner has, say, 10,000 views of its content, leaving up videos claimed by our system will lead to an average additional 10,000 views of that same content. We call this 'partner uplift,' and for some partners we've seen uplift as high as 9000%," King added.

Once a segment of video content is analyzed by Content ID, its unique identification signal is stored in a database, against which all future YouTube uploads are compared. Should a video being uploaded to the site match a known identification signal, the upload would either not be permitted for inclusion on YouTube or would be allowed for posting, depending on the previously defined wishes of the media company or person to whom the work's copyright belongs.

The Content ID system, which Google has said "goes above and beyond our legal responsibilities," also attempts to identify video material that has been purposely modified by those looking to thwart such filtering systems, and to identify known material which has been captured by such means as videotaping a television broadcast.

In an interview last fall, Google chief executive Eric E. Schmidt noted that video identification technology may never achieve 100 percent perfect results, but said that even a less than perfect system could still be very useful. "The question is, can we get to 80 or 90 percent?” Schmidt said.

While Wednesday's news from Google does not address how accurate the program has gotten at identifying copyright infringement since its introduction, the 90 percent monetization figure is likely to be viewed as a success by the Internet giant.

YouTube Says 90 Percent Of Those Using Its Content ID System Seek Monetization

King said the program has been a success for Web content owners. "While we have long provided copyright owners with similar content policies and tools, Video ID was revolutionary because it provided real choice and control to content owners by combining a sophisticated policy engine with cutting-edge video matching technology."

Google announced a newly-redesigned Web site for the program -- www.youtube.com/t/contentid, along with the new Content ID name, and said that the program was open to all digital rights owners. "Access to our copyright management tools is open to all rights owners, regardless of whether they choose to license their content to YouTube," King wrote in the Wednesday blog message.

More detailed information on the program from the time of its launch is available in this additional SearchEngineWorld article.