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YouTube Expands Video Downloads

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 07:50 CST

YouTube is now giving users a second option - video downloads - instead of the normal streaming videos. President-Elect Barack Obama’s radio addresses will be the first video to be offered.

Users can simply click a button to save a video in a format that will play on computers and mobile devices. The selection of downloadable videos is limited for now, but analyst Phil Leigh says it will likely grow.

The H.264 files deliver high-quality video and the move comes as Google Video stops accepting video uploads. A Stanford University law professor said he expects downloads to "expand with selected partners."

The latest YouTube move offers a new download option for President-elect Barack Obama's ChangeDotGov channel on YouTube.

Some of the videos, particularly the "Weekly Address" series, now sport a "Click to download" link below the play button. Previously, all videos were offered as streaming videos that required an Internet connection while viewing.

Until now, viewers used third-party software to access a video from Google's service, so the new YouTube feature makes downloading easier.

Offering downloads of some of its videos is a strategic move for YouTube, which has seen an increase in online streaming in the last year.

In November alone, 146 million people watched videos online, streaming a total of 12 billion video clips, according to comScore.

The number of videos streamed on YouTube increased 17 percent from March 2007 to November 2008.

Although there have been third-party tools made by companies like RealNetworks for ripping YouTube video streams to files, the ChangeDotGov downloadable files appear to be the first downloads officially offered by YouTube.

Experts say portability is an advantage and an option that lets viewers watch at times when they have no Internet connections.

"If you've got an iPhone, you're online, but you don't always have a good connection," said Leigh, senior analyst for Inside Digital Media.

"It's clearly a step towards portability, and I think they've made it clear they want to be available on all screens -- they want to be on the computer, portable devices and the TV," he added.

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On the Net:

• YouTube
• ChangeDotGov

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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