Comparing YouTube vs. Skype
Is everyone YouTube obsessed? If so, how come? Is it copyright issues? Jealously over its success? The possibility it might crack a huge Web 2.0 hurdle by actually doing an IPO? The blogosphere and media has been frothing at the keyboard lately – ranging from passionate defenses by Lefsetz's Letter and Fred Wilson to Mark Cuban's copyright rant and the New York Times' interview with YouTube CEO Chad Hurley. This YouTube addiction is strikingly similar to what Skype experienced before it was snapped up by eBay for $4.2-billion. To illustrate my point here's how they compare:
YouTube Skype
Young Founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen Niklas Zennstrom, Janus Friis
Industry Under Attack TV, movies Telecom/telephony
Initial Cost Free Free
Initial Business Model None None
Current model AdSense, contextual advertising Premium services
Biggest Fans Sequoia Capital, Fred Wilson Tim Draper
Biggest Enemies Mark Cuban ILECs, cablecos
Takeover Buzz Medium Hot
Value $2-billion (speculated) $4.2-billion (eBay's cost)
VC Raised: $10.8-million $21.1-million
VCs Sequoia Capital Draper Fisher, Index Ventures
Legal Issues No lawsuits…yet. Lawsuits: Streamcast, IDT
Competition: Microsoft, Google, MySpace, Apple Vonage, ILECs cablecos
Traffic: 100 million video streams/day 7M concurrent users (peak)
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