EXCLUSIVE: GooTube domain owner speaks to me, and I'm impressed

Last week, as the "GooTube" moniker began to be applied to Google's acquisition of YouTube, I posted that there actually is a "GooTube."

Founded a year ago by Internet marketer Eric Watson, it provides a search engine for glue-related tube type products. Keep in mind that Eric secured the gootube domain a year ago, before hardly anyone had heard of YouTube and probably no one ever thought the video site would be so popular that it would be courted by Google and others.

Given the GooTube meme, I was curious to find out what Watson thought about this. 

Now, I know, for Eric emailed me back the other day. 

"Hell yeah i want to sell! My original concept when I bought the domain a year or so ago, was similar in scope, but of course I did not, and still do not, have the resources or finances to do what i would like with it," he writes.

"If Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or some other forward-thinking investor wanted to dig deep enough and purchase this name to hedge their bet, i would certainly consider offers. I am also  considering putting the name up for sale at live auction towards the end of the month, in hopes of a record-high sale."

Eric also notes that the parked page  which advertises "tube products" is just a way to make a few pennies while he figures out where he is going with all this.

But guess what. Eric has some well-informed opinions on this Google YouTube deal. I suppose his thoughts are as valid as anyone's, and more cogent than many:

"The 'Big Three' have so saturated the media, that they have all but lost the ability to consistently draw the YouTube demographic," he points out in his email to me. "Let's face it, there is only one way to reach so many people or potential "content-consumers" that fast. It is through viral marketing and social networking, which starts and ends with the consumer. The giants are learning that content and advertising cannot be force-fed, and that the only way to accomplish these goals is to providethe vehicle (e.g. YouTube, Myspace) so that the consumers can do it themselves, and on their own terms.

"When you have deep pockets, why re-invent the wheel?," he asks. "Google Video will always be just another service provided by one of the "giants," and simply by default could not be as cool as something created by and ultimately for, the demographic they are trying to reach. This is not the first, nor will it be the last buyout from Google."

GooTube or no, Eric has some valid points.