Robert J Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Toronto Star Nov. 16, 2006. 06:07 AM The National Hockey League has signed a deal with popular video-sharing website YouTube Inc. to market highlight clips in a bid to boost fan interest in some U.S. markets.. Trumpeted as the first of its kind between a professional North American sports league and YouTube, the agreement has wide-ranging implications both for the NHL and for the upstart California-based company. The NHL is hoping to widen its fan base through an Internet site that's proven popular with young potential viewers. Earlier, in an effort to develop a larger profile, the league changed its rules to make the game more interesting. For YouTube, which recently agreed to be acquired by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion (U.S.), the pact represents a chance to further legitimize itself, even as some major TV networks and sports leagues assail it for posting copyrighted content. Through YouTube, consumers view short videos more than 100 million times a day, ranging from clips of a cicada moulting and jugglers to vintage cartoons and sports highlights recorded from television feed. Users post more than 60,000 videos daily. Most videos are limited to about 10 minutes. The NHL said that the league would protect its copyrighted material and share in any revenue generated from advertising placed adjacent to its hockey video offerings. The videos would be posted at least a full day after a game's completion. Brad Pelletier, an executive with the Canadian unit of sports consultancy I.M.G., said the league was probably considering a move to offer "raw, uncut and behind-the-scenes footage" that may not have aired during conventional broadcasts. Even so, it's doubtful the NHL would generate significant revenue through the initiative, said several Internet marketing experts. "It's pure PR," said Steve Safran, a Boston-based Internet consultant. "It's encouraging people to share clips from hockey games, which is something they really don't do right now." For YouTube, said to be the largest video-sharing site on the Web, the NHL contract is noteworthy because it marks the first time a major sports league has embraced its technology. While users have already been able to access NHL highlights for months at the website — clips available at YouTube, before yesterday's deal was announced, included a 1999 brawl between the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers and a collection of goals scored by Washington's young forward Alexander Ovechkin — a formal agreement with the hockey league helps to legitimize the Internet site. "It's further validation for YouTube," said Jimmy Schaeffler, a former producer with ABC Sports who now works as the Carmel Group media consultancy in California. "It's kind of like when the government says something's illegal but doesn't do anything about it, and then they make it legal and, all of a sudden, people rush in and it becomes that much more popular." Still, Schaeffler said, "how the NHL monetizes this remains the big question." One looming obstacle that YouTube has been trying to navigate is the complaints raised by TV networks, sports leagues and others who have cried foul when copyrighted content has been posted to the Website. YouTube is often forced to take popular content off its site. National Football League spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in an interview that YouTube recently complied with a request to remove more than 3,000 clips featuring NFL game footage. Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association have raised similar complaints. Just this week, Google said it would set aside more than $200 million to deal with potential lawsuits and copyright settlements over the next 12 months that might arise in the wake of its acquisition of YouTube. "The only reason this deal was done was because the NHL was going to make YouTube remove all of the copyrighted NHL clips. So YouTube says, `Okay, we'll host whatever you want for free just so it's not negative press,'" said Dan Rayburn, executive vice-president with Internet consulting company Steaming Media. Rayburn said the deal was of minimal value to the NHL. "Why not host the clips on the NHL.com site and drive traffic there?" Rayburn asked. "Why give YouTube the traffic when the NHL will get no revenue in return? If the NHL was smart, they would take the same route that (baseball) has gone and actually make money from their content instead of giving away their videos and hoping they will see something in return from a share of advertising revenue." Coming off a year during which fans flocked back to the sport after a lockout led to a full season's cancellation, the NHL has failed to post similar gains this year. The Los Angeles Times reported this month that league attendance was down 2.1 per cent and that 16 of the league's 30 teams have posted declines in attendance. To be sure, the NHL isn't the first mainstream organization that's sought firmer ties to YouTube, the business started by two men in their 20s who worked out of a garage. In April, Weinstein Co., a movie company run by producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, premiered the first few minutes of the film Lucky Number Slevin on YouTube and General Electric Co.'s NBC said it would create a channel on YouTube to offer promotional video clips for some of its popular shows such as The Office and Saturday Night Live. The deal is the second of its kind for the NHL in recent weeks. The league also signed an agreement with YouTube parent Google where fans can access full-length archived NHL games such as Game Six of the 1967 Stanley Cup finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Oh, great. I can't see the damn puck as it is even on a conventional-size TV screen. Like there's ANY chance in hell that I'm gonna be able to see it on a YOUTUBE size screen. What are they thinking??? (Not that I particularly like hockey much in the first place.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Check out videos of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVXNkdCwYBU. Great moves, big hits...I'm not much of a hockey fan, but the highlights can be amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Oh, great. I can't see the damn puck as it is even on a conventional-size TV screen. Like there's ANY chance in hell that I'm gonna be able to see it on a YOUTUBE size screen. What are they thinking??? (Not that I particularly like hockey much in the first place.) The game has no chance of grabbing you on the tube; until you see it "in real life", it just looks like a bunch of bozos skating around to no purpose. The only thing worse than hockey on TV is hockey on the radio... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert J Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 The only thing worse than hockey on TV is hockey on the radio... Blasphemy! http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-41-372-2048-1...s/foster_hewitt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 (edited) The only thing worse than hockey on TV is hockey on the radio... Frankly, I'm not at all convinced that hockey is better on TV than it is on the radio. If there was ever a game that was not meant for television, it's this one. What's really strange is that this is, arguably, the best game to see live, especially if it's at the level that's played in the NHL. I have not yet gone into youtube to see how they're doing this, but I'd guess they are focusing on the stuff that make sense visually, the big hits, the big saves, and scoring. You really don't need to "see" the puck to appreciate this kind of thing. Up over and out. Edited November 16, 2006 by Dave James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Frankly, I'm not at all convinced that hockey is better on TV than it is on the radio. It's close, I'll admit. The only advantage TV has is that you can see that they're actually skating while doing this; something that always amazes those of us south of the snow belt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 I really came to appreciate hockey when I saw it in person and I enjoy it on tv and radio except when Colorado is sucking-like thet are right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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