Google's Competitive Advantage

In 2006, although customers watched traditional television, Internet video emerged as one of the hottest trends in technology. At that time, IDC, a research firm, performed a survey and found out that 33 percent of users watched Internet video. Also they found out that while many people watched full shows online, the most popular shows were user-generated movies and short clips. In addition, those users didn’t have to pay for the service and were not interested in paying either. User-generated video consisted of amateur and home made videos. Professional video producers aware of that got interested in that new media for them and decided to produce products for exclusive online broadcasting. The forecast of the Internet industry forecasted that

YouTube would help extend that advantage into a more profitable stage. Advertisers would be more willing to pay a premium for ads on a video search as opposed to paying for text search. Another Google’s advantage was the amount of financial resources allocated to boast its innovative services. For example, Google Search, Blogger, Finance, Google Docs and Apps, Google Chrome, and many other acquisitions such as YouTube. Because of such resources, Google could deal easily with copyright protection issues. Thus, to avoid pirated content on the channel, YouTube signed an agreement with CBS broadcasting and music companies such as Sony, Universal, and Warner to broadcast their videos and share advertising revenue. Google’s biggest advantage is its capability to offer the users a “one-stop-shop” for all of its services and at a zero cost. A third competitive advantage was Google’s strong market share. According to the rankings, Google held 66%, while Yahoo held 17%, and Microsoft 15%. Because of the number of people searching the Internet on Google, the name became the expression “Google it.” Users loyalty also is part of Google’s advantage, since they feel comfortable with the site and don’t want to try other search