Have you ever had content removed from YouTube because a content creator claimed you stole their footage, music, etc? In some cases that content was rightfully obtained and now YouTube is giving video uploading members the chance to fight those take down notices with a new appeals process.

The new “Appeal” section allows users to claim they have right to use the data. If a content owner still believes that user is in violation they much file a DMCA takedown notice.

In the past a dispute removed a video and the user was just plain out of luck.

The appeal means the content holder will take the user to “court” and if the uploading party is still found to be in violation of copyright they will receive one “strike” against them. Three strikes and the user is kicked off YouTube permanently.� read more

YouTube on Wednesday announced that Trueview in-stream video ads will begin to roll-out on mobile devices.

In a post on the��Google Mobile Ads Blog�group product manager Phil Farhi wrote:

�We�ve rolled out a number of specific�mobile ad formats�on YouTube over the past year, making it easier for advertisers to reach people with great ads and content creators to monetize mobile views.� Now we�re extending this further by launchingTrueView in-stream video ads�on mobile devices.�

The TrueView ads are the same ones that feature the “skip” button on YouTube videos. After a few seconds of viewing users simply click the “skip” button to move on to their desired video.

For advertisers the move is good news since they only pay for ads that are viewed in their entirety, while even a short acknowledgement could still help their branding efforts.�According to�Ad Age, �YouTube says that 65% of pre-roll ads on YouTube now allow viewers to skip them.�� read more

YouTube continues to grow by leaps and bounds and this month the video streaming network reported 4 billion hours of watch video, a new record just two months after the site celebrated its 7th birthday.

4 billion hours is the equivalent of 456,000 years worth of video viewing in a single one month time period.

Two months ago YouTube executives revealed 3 billion hours of monthly viewing, an increase of 1 billion hours in under 60 days.

YouTube exec Robery Kyncl revealed the new streaming record while speaking on Thursday at the company’s new professional content channels initiative.

Here are some additional stats which may surprise YouTube users: read more

In 2007 father Howard Davies-Carr put up a YouTube video titled “Charlie Bit My Finger” which as the name suggests featured a baby boy named Charlie who bit his brothers finger.

Since going viral just over 4 years ago the video has been viewed 436 million times, earning the family heaps of money under Google’s revenue sharing program.

According to Mr. Davies-Carr he almost removed the video at one boy but then realized:

“At first I thought, well, this is a bit strange, maybe I should take it down.  And then I realized that, well, if I take it down then what would happen is that everybody that’s already created parodies or taken a copy of it and put it on their own website will just keep those running.”

The family started receiving revenue after the video reached 50 million views and when added in with TV spots the family soon found itself half a million dollars richer with more money coming in as people continue to revisit an internet favorite clip.  read more

If like millions of Google account holders you have chosen to use your same account for YouTube and Google+ the company has rolled out a new feature that allows you to create new YouTube channels directly from your Google+ account.

On Youtube’s blog Product manager Trevor O’Brien reveals:

You can now use your Google+ profile name and photo on a new YouTube channel, giving you one consistent identity across platforms when uploading videos, sharing, commenting and other public activities.”

The process is very simply to implement, basically you choose to create a new YouTube channel from inside your Google+ account and you will see the following options: read more

Over the last eight months video views on popular video streaming website YouTube have jumped 25% to 4 billion online videos each day.

Video views continue to increase particularly in the smartphone and Smart TV market where users are able to download YouTube videos faster and with better display quality.

YouTube has also revealed that uploads to the service have greatly increased from 48 hours each minute in May to 60 hours each minute at the current time.

While YouTube users are watching more videos through the service YouTube users only spend 15 minutes each day watching videos on the site while American TV watchers consume four to five hours watching TV every day on average. It’s that low level of engagement that has led investors to question YouTube’s earnings capabilities.  read more

I honestly don’t fully know the best way to combat online piracy; but I do know that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) isn’t it. The bill would create a plethora of problems if it were passed. Let’s be real here, copyright infringement and piracy are real problems that need real solutions, but when you spot a weed growing in your front yard, do you dig up the entire lawn to get rid of it? No, you pull that weed, and ONLY that weed, out of the ground and you do your best to monitor the lawn for any future weeds.

User-Generated Content Sites and SOPA

One of the complaints that you’ll consistently hear about the SOPA bill is that it is way too generalized and all-encompassing. For instance, under SOPA, a site will be considered dedicated to the theft of U.S. intellectual property if it is “primarily designed or operated for the purpose of offering services in a manner that enables or facilitates copyright infringement”. Well, take YouTube for example; the online video site serves an average of 100 million videos every single day. The majority of it is uploaded by users, who can remain anonymous with minimal effort if they so choose. Under SOPA, YouTube can be considered a site that is primarily designed in a way that enables copyright infringement because of those reasons. Totally nuts. Blog owners might find themselves harboring illegal content through RSS, and pay the price for it; who knows anymore? read more

It’s probably not the first sport you’d think of when discussing live sporting event streaming on YouTube but it turns out bull riding will be coming to the world’s largest media repository in 2012.

YouTube revealed this week that the Professional Bull Riders(PBR) will be airing their events to more than 100 million worldwide fans and they’ll do it through live streaming on the video network.

Along with streaming of the actual bull rides viewers will also receive original programming, interviews with the riders, highlights from the current and past events and more.

Here’s the list of the first PBR events to be streamed live on YouTube: read more

Eighteen-year-old Ben Breedlove fought a serious heart condition all of his life, a condition that took his life on Christmas Day but not before he posted a two-part video on YouTube in which he describes his ordeal silently through cue cards.

The video went viral when the rapper Kid Cudi found out that Breedlove claimed to once see him in a near-death experience. Here’s what Cudi had to say: read more