Michael Grade labels YouTube a 'parasite'

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 16-Sep-08, 09:00

LONDON - ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has branded internet video operators such as YouTube, Google and Joost as "parasites" that live off the TV shows and content created by the commercial broadcaster.

In a recorded interview with journalist Ray Snoddy at the IBC technology conference, Grade told the audience in Amsterdam that he did not consider the rise of internet giants such as Google, which owns YouTube, to be a threat to ITV.

Grade said: "The day that Google or Joost or any of these people start investing £1bn a year in UK content is the day I'll start to be worried.

"They're all parasites, they just live off our content is what they do. As long as we can create the content, the content is the keys to the castle for us going forward."

The ITV boss's attack on YouTube comes as the website, which expects to make $200m in ad revenues this year, defends itself against a $1bn content infringement lawsuit brought by US TV company Viacom.

Grade, who recently put back ITV's target of reaching £150m in online revenues by two years to 2012, said mobile TV was not a top priority: "Mobile will have to wait. It's clunky, it's slow and 3G streaming seems usually not to work."

Grade, who has been under pressure as ITV's share price has fallen sharply and rumours of a potential takeover by Mediaset or Big Brother producer Endemol have emerged, also argued that the group can weather the downturn.

"Whether we can survive as an independent company is a matter for our shareholders. They will decide in the end on such questions."

"Do I believe that this business has a long term future? Absolutely I believe that. I believe that because of our content skills."

Grade's comments come just a week after ITV hired Jason Binks as its new digital director.

Binks, who was previously a sales director at Roo, is in charge of striking distribution agreements with companies such as iTunes and Amazon.

Comments

Joe Woods - 16/09/2008

I don't know what he's complaining about, I'd hardly call the garbage ITV churns out nowadays as 'content'.

Jamie Credland - 16/09/2008

Interesting to see that the Top 10 most viewed UK Youtube clips don't include anything made by ITV. In fact, there are plenty of user-generated clips in there, so the parasite analogy doesn't really hold. While some of the content on there is clearly being nicked from big comercial broadcasters, a lot of people would rather watch content specifically developed for the medium, rather than 2 min clips from a 30 min show.

Remy Asher - 16/09/2008

My my... someone sounds bitter!

Mark Ralphs - 16/09/2008

I agree with Jamie. Grade is one of the big beasts of UK TV, someone who was never afraid to push the boundaries, particularly at C4. It's a shame he displays such a fundamental lack of understanding of how platforms like YouTube can provide 'taster' access for commercial broadcasters to new audiences in new markets. He is right about live mobile TV though... for the moment.

Liz Tucholski - 16/09/2008

Quite incredible that he is taking such a poorly educated view on digital media. People consume content in new ways now and that demand is only being met by companies like Youtube and Joost. This will only become more mainstream; old school please meet the new kids on the block, they aren't going away anytime soon.