Marketing Management Dr. Aravind Banakar –

Marketing Management CASE STUDY (20 Marks) YouTube.com was a video sharing Web site where users could upload, share and watch videos for free. In less than 2 years of its existence, YouTube ranked amongst the Web's top 50 sites and had 16 million daily viewers. By August 2006, it had the highest market share in the free video sharing Web site category. YouTube had introduced two new advertising avenues named 'Brand Channels' and 'Participatory Video Ads' to en cash its huge audience base and soaring popularity. But at the same time, YouTube's success story seemed to be eclipsed by allegations of copyright violations for the non permissible content posted on its Web site.

YouTube also faced a challenge to maintain its rapid paced growth and competition from other emerging me too kind of startups. In October 2006, Google announced the acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock for transaction. Would YouTube be able to derive benefit from its association with the global reach and technology leadership of Google or get further entangled in lawsuits after being acquired by a cash rich technology giant?

Answer the following question. Q1. Explain the business model and functioning of YouTube. Q2. Examine the critical success factors for YouTube as a company. Q3. Debate the marketing strategies of YouTube. Q4. Give an overview of the case.

Global Study Solutions Dr. Aravind Banakar –