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YouTube Case Study

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Institution affiliation

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YouTube Case Study

The reason I chose to make a case study from YouTube is because from a simple website

it has grown to be one of the leading online video sharing site that has attracted more funds

from advertisers globally. It has evolved over a period of about two decades to be one of the

largest subsidiaries of Google.

Background

In February 2005, three former employees of PayPal came up with a concept of

YouTube, and they started the video-sharing website whose headquarters is based on San

Bruno, California, United States. In 2006, however, the company was bought by Google for a

sum of US$ 1.65 billion. Presently YouTube operates under Google as a subsidiary.

YouTube’s turning point

Although the company offers service that is free for users, the business model is based

on the old model banner advertising and sponsorship, partnership and promotions and that is

how it able to make the profit. Its turning point can be traced to when it was purchased by

Google considering that Google had already established itself in the online market. From raising

an enormous amount of money and getting new leadership style the company grew steadily to

be one of the leading online music sharing websites globally. Today, YouTube has positioned

itself as a global music sharing site where artists can get paid just because people watch their

videos.
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SWOT analysis for YouTube

Strength

The main advantage of YouTube is Google since it one of the most popular and largest

search engine in the world (Graham, 2005). It serves as the back for YouTube because of

product placement which is necessary for the growth of any company. Because of its high

professionalism, it has created a safe environment where entrepreneurs can promote and

expose their product to fears. Another significant strength is the use of different language that

can be adjusted according to geographic placements, thus, attracting more people.

Weakness

It is hard to track payments because there are many people uploading video contents

that are at times, not their original work. The comments from online users are not restricted or

supervised thus creating a challenge of professionalism which is not good for advertisers. The

idea of video downloads contributes to piracy which destroys artist.

Opportunities

Every day producers who are satisfied with the work of YouTube upload their videos,

hence, attracting more online users of YouTube that results in more profit generation by the

firm.

Threats
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YouTube faces considerable competition from other players in the market making it a

great challenge for the company to make more profit. There is violation of laws that is alarm

raising, and government interventions are not always the best thing for businesses such as

YouTube.
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References

Graham, J., (2005). “Video websites pop up, invite postings”. USA Today

Official website. www.youtube.com. Retrieved on March 13, 2016