KEY POINTS:
The popular video sharing website YouTube is holding a launch event at Britomart in Auckland this afternoon which appears to be for the unveiling of a New Zealand-specific YouTube website.
At the moment www.youtube.co.nz redirects to nz.youtube.com which has a random mix of homemade New Zealand and Australian video clips.
TVNZ has its own channel on the main YouTube website, where it shows some of its TVNZ OnDemand content, but YouTube, which is owned by Google, has a strategy of localising its websites - and partnering with local media companies to do so.
Youtube.com.au was launched yesterday at Fox Studios in Sydney, as well as media partnerships with Network Ten, ABC, Seven, Sky News, Southern Cross View and Fairfax Media.
The networks will put clips of their shows and highlights from news programmes on YouTube.
The site will highlight the worldwide clips Australians are viewing the most while "featured videos" will be mainly clips produced in Australia.
The New Zealand site is almost certain to follow the model. The question really is what media partners will jump onboard. TVNZ will no doubt be there as well and possibly Sky in some form. TVWorks wouldn't want to be left out of the party either, given YouTube's mass market appeal.
As Australia is currently finding, YouTube is proving to be a popular outlet for politicians including Prime Minister John Howard in the run-up to the general election.
Hosting a local site makes those clips easier to sort through. I only really see a New Zealand-made YouTube clip when I see a link to one on a local website so having all the New Zealand content in one place is a great advantage.
Elsewhere on the web, I've only just read Rowan Simpson's TradeMe Manifesto which looks at what made the internet auction website so successful. It's worth a read.
Richard MacManus has an interesting report on the Web 2.0 Summit.
