Big media videos play small role on YouTube

By Kenneth Li

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Videos removed at the behest of copyright owners accounted for only a small percentage of viewership on top online video service YouTube, according to a study published this week, drawing the ire of media companies that dispute this conclusion.

Less than one in 10 videos on the Google Inc.-owned site were uploaded without the permission of copyright holders, according to a study by online video tracking firm Vidmeter.com. Pirated clips that were pulled off YouTube attracted only 6 percent of viewers, the study found.

But media companies complained the study only counted videos that were removed as unauthorised content and not the myriad others, many of them duplicates, that escape attention.

The report comes amid a high profile $1 billion (506 million pound) lawsuit filed by MTV Networks-owner Viacom Inc. in March that charged Google and YouTube with "massive, intentional copyright infringement" and growing concern in the media industry over Google's clout.

"We have concluded that unauthorised copyright videos make up a relatively small portion of YouTube's most popular videos and an even smaller portion of views," the report's authors wrote.

Viacom called the study's findings and methodology "flawed." Privately, another media industry source also disputed the conclusions.

"The Vidmeter study undercounts the volume of copyrighted content on YouTube by a significant margin," a Viacom spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.

"Among other things, during the sample period, and even at present, many copyright owners had not sent take-down notices for their copyrighted material."