It's official: Google is a Media company, streams advertising supported videos
In a June 12 LA Times piece, Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, is quoted:
It's better to think of Google as a technology company. Google is run by three computer scientists, and Google is an innovator in technology in our space. We're in the advertising business — 99% of our revenue is advertising-related. But that doesn't make us a media company.
With Google's just announced “test” of “free today” sponsored streaming of premium videos at Google Video, Schmidt may no longer be disclaiming that as the company seeks to "organize the world's information," it is a media company.
According to Google:
Welcome to Google Video:You've found the world's first open online video marketplace, where you can search for, watch and even buy an ever-growing collection of TV shows, movies, music videos, documentaries, personal productions and more. Just type in your search term (try Google or Hilary Duff)…and we'll search our archive for relevant results. You can watch brief previews by clicking the "play" icon in the image thumbnail. Clicking on a thumbnail image will take you to a playback page, where you can watch the preview or, for free content, the video itself.
In addition to viewing free content, you can also purchase or rent premium content at the Google Video store using your Google Account. You can download much of this content and view it using the downloadable Google video player.