In one corner, we have online search giant Google weighing in at a market cap of $139 billion dollars with a record of several online acquisitions (most recently YouTube.com), and 0 losses. In the other corner, we have old-school Media Company Viacom weighing in at a market cap of $27 billion dollars with a record of owning hit TV shows like The Daily Show and the Real World, and few losses here and there. This bout promises to be one for the ages and fans on both sides of the ring will get what they came to see: A street brawl between two media giants fighting for control of our eyes when we go online, and become the sole recipient of advertising dollars spent online.
Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt recently went in public saying old-school media companies like Viacom will need Google’s online properties like YouTube to remain relevant with viewer demographics of interest. In his argument, Mr. Schmidt went on to say that an aggregation of desirable online eyeballs, or users, have more intrinsic value then the media content produced by media giants like Viacom for the consumption of those desirable eyeballs. With his statement, the old-argument that content is “king”, or “if you have the content, users will come” goes out the window. Such argument by Mr. Schmidt kind of resembles the argument: Which one came first, the chicken or the egg?
It’ hard to say what has more value: content or online users, but given Google’s outstanding record in everything the company pursues, it’s not hard to think they will come out victorious in this bout. Google has the clout, the money and the “do-no-evil” credibility to convince media companies (perhaps not Viacom), that making their digital media content available for distribution across the Google properties is the only way for these companies to reach desired audiences, stay relevant with their target demographics and make a few bucks along the way.
