ITV, Britain’s biggest commercial terrestrial TV station, has missed out on sharing a £1 million (US$1.5 million) windfall from clips of Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle uploaded onto video Web site YouTube.
Boyle’s performance on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent has attracted more than 100 million hits on the site two weeks as the 47-year-old church volunteer continues to captivate a huge global audience.
But the financially beleaguered channel has insisted that no advertisements be shown alongside the clips until it has thrashed out a deal with Google, which owns YouTube. The stalemate has meant that no one — not ITV, nor producer Simon Cowell nor YouTube itself — has so far been able to cash in.
PHOTO: AP
Estimates of how much ITV — and the show’s producers, Talkback Thames, and Simon Cowell’s company, Syco — could have lost to date vary between £500,000 and £1.5 million. ITV has been battered by an advertising slump recently and is cutting hundreds of jobs.
Late on Friday night, Fremantle Media, which owns the digital distribution rights to Britain’s Got Talent outside the UK, made the first move toward capitalizing on Boyle’s Internet success. It set up an official Britain’s Got Talent channel on YouTube and intends to rake in what it can from future clips shown around the world, excluding Britain. It does not matter whether the clips are uploaded by a fan or by ITV because the revenue generated always goes to the copyright owner under YouTube regulations.
On Saturday, ITV seemed to be moving toward rectifying a situation that has dragged on for two weeks and left experts amazed. What observers cannot understand is why the broadcaster has failed to take advantage of the millions visiting the Boyle sites — money that is now lost forever.
An ITV spokesman confirmed the company was in discussions with YouTube. He said: “ITV, Talkback Thames and Syco are exploring the options for monetizing traffic on YouTube. We are delighted that Britain’s Got Talent has been such a success across all of ITV’s platforms. Obviously any deal would have to be something that worked for all parties concerned.”
ITV.com, which shows footage from the show and contains advertisements, has seen a 700 percent increase in user traffic, garnering more than 11 million hits.
Boyle’s global audience has learned of her mainly through YouTube. Her new fans even include the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who asked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown about her after delivering a speech at the Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, last week.
Annan was overheard asking: “So, tell me about Susan Boyle.”
Brown responded: “Well, it’s absolutely amazing. This woman has come from nowhere and has become a celebrity all over the world.”
Part of ITV’s reluctance to agree to a deal with YouTube could be because it wants to maintain the traffic to its own Web site. There is also speculation that it is trying to strike too hard a deal, using Boyle’s unique position as a bargaining tool for a better share.
Another explanation could be ITV chief executive Michael Grade’s public loathing of YouTube, which he has branded a “parasite” living off TV shows and content created by the commercial broadcaster. Grade’s announcement last week that he was stepping down as chief executive may help thaw relations.
YouTube says that the majority of advertising revenue goes to the copyright owner.
But its spokesman said: “Content owners often have many different priorities. Some seek to generate advertising revenue, while others use the service to promote their offline TV shows or their own online services.”
“We have an existing relationship with Fremantle Media and are delighted that they are launching this channel as a home for fans for the show outside the UK,” he said.
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