Google-YouTube: Deal Done for $1.78 billion

On November 14, 06, Google announced that they have completed the acquisition of YouTube. Based on the closing price of $481.03 per share, the deal is already worth $1.775 billion to YouTube’s shareholders.

But the combination of a YouTube copyright crackdown and increased competition could mean that YouTube may find it difficult to stay on top indefinitely, writes via CNN Money. Online video competitors are taking different approaches:

• Metacafe (Oct. traffic 3.8 million users) is trying to differentiate itself from YouTube by offering creators of user-generated content the ability to get paid based on how many page views their videos generate.
• Revver (Oct. traffic 262,000 visitors) inserts one-frame advertisements at the end of videos and shares the ad revenue with the creators.
• VideoEgg is trying to be more of a partner with larger firms as opposed to a destination site for user videos. In addition to tools, VideoEgg has also developed an online video ad platform that's used by social networking sites such as Bebo, Dogster and Tagged.

Internet Takes Over Window-Shopping

29% Holiday Shopping Goes Online

From browsing to buying, the Internet will play a larger role than ever in holiday shopping this year as almost 88.7%of consumers regularly or occasionally examine products on the Internet before buying in a store, according to a new survey conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch.

Shoppers, who are expected to spend $791.10 each this year on holiday merchandise, said they will use the Internet for an average of one-fourth (28.9%) of their shopping. Though nearly half (47.1%) of consumers plan to make at least one holiday purchase online this year, up from 36.0% three years ago, many will also use the Internet to browse before heading to stores to buy. Researching merchandise online (browsed online before buying in a store within the last 90 days):

• electronics (39.3%)
• apparel (20.0%)
• appliances (19.6%)
• home improvement items (18.0%)
• medicines, vitamins and supplements (16.2%)
• shoes (16.1%)

The survey found that shoppers use a variety of websites to research and compare products. Popular places for shoppers to begin searching for merchandise availability, prices and product specifics include:

• Google.com (23.6%)
• Yahoo.com (7.2%)
• Amazon.com (5.5%)
• eBay (3.7%)