Putting it as simply as possible, YouTube could easily be replaced.  They are geared around the “long tail.”  There are millions of videos stored and streamed that get minimal views and offer an overall negative revenue.  At the other end are a few videos that get millions of views and get YouTube all the revenue they get.  Meanwhile these earners for YouTube make insignificant percentages and many of the top artists on YouTube are not happy with their small cut.  Add to that, YouTube is behaving deviantly when they hide the feedback on videos from you until you open the video, (after playing their ad).

Don’t hate them.  Google is now at the helm, cracking the whip of profit.  The amount of storage and infrastructure to support everyone’s videos is beyond comprehension, and I still don’t think YouTube as a separate entity has yet to turn profit.

3 steps to replace them

1. Create a better, more honest interface that is merit driven, and actually driving the viewer toward better videos. (There’s more money there in the long run)

2. Provide the reward – and make sure everybody knows.  Pay out twice of what YouTube does, and give them a real slap to the face.

3. Get rid of the tail by taking care of the head.  Each minute of a video has to have a certain ratio of revenue return.  Videos that receive less than (lets say)1000 views are of no benefit.  The best way to set this up will be to piggyback YouTube.  If you have a group af videos on YouTube that average over 1000 views each, then you get in free.  WELCOME!  If not, you pay a fee and enter a trial period.  Can’t generate the views needed, and you’re out. If your thought right there is, “wait!  That’s not right!  That’s not fair!”  You’re right.  It’s not.  But here is the fact.  The fact is that we human beings have only a certain amount of time in a given day to take in content.  Year’s worth of video get uploaded to YouTube everyday.  Similarly, in music, there are millions of songs out there.  iHeart Radio brags in their advertisements to give you access to 14 million songs.  Well, at 4 minutes a song that’s 2500 years of music.  Do you want to go through it all?  You can’t!  The filter is the most important thing today. YouTube has no filter other than pushing you towards the revenue stream.   So yes, I say make it exclusive.  Viewers will know that the product here is pre-filtered and of a higher quality.  In keeping with that, you shut down the piracy.  The official video gets the plays, and only covers or remixes, or live versions can be listed alongside.  Get in good favor with content creators.  A beautiful touch would be offering a higher rate of revenue for those who pull their YouTube content in the move to this “NewTube”.

You create a better environment that has scarcity for both the content creator and the viewer.  What will happen? YouTube will have to cut the tail.  That will be the final straw.  They then become the MySpace of video.