Google tells media to tap into YouTube

Media groups would be better off handing their online video activities to Google's YouTube video-sharing site than pursuing home-grown efforts such as Hulu.com and the US cable industry's TV Everywhere

initiative, according to Google executives.

"At some point in time it becomes an economic choice by the content owners. It's a matter of core competencies," Nikesh Arora , Google's president of global sales operations and business development, told the Financial Times.

Mr Arora said media industry efforts to replicate cable television's business model online through TV Everywhere were "clever". The initiative, which is undergoing trials, aims to offer a full channel line-up to proved cable subscribers.

However, Mr Arora questioned traditional content owners' ability to be successful content aggregators online.

"When all that happens, they will still have to figure out how to sell advertising," he said, arguing that specialist online advertising networks such as Google AdSense could do a better job than broadcasters' traditional sales teams.

Four elements were required to deliver online video advertising revenues: content creation, technology, advertising production and advertising sales.

Mr Arora said that after last year's acquisition of DoubleClick, the online display advertising group, "we are playing in three of the four".

David Eun , Google's vice-president for strategic partnerships, said Hulu , which generates "a lot of traffic" from its YouTube channel, and TV Everywhere were at early stages.

Google was talking to members of the cable industry about TV Everywhere, he said, and "we'd love to figure out a way of being part of it".