MySpace Starts Doing Video, Properly

Did you know MySpace did video? No, not the low quality clips you can add to your page, but real video, like YouTube. Turns out it does, and this week it’s relaunching the service, all polished up, in a separate site, and with the new name MySpace TV.   It will be open to everyone, not just MySpace members, with an emphasis on professional, rather than user-generated, video (there will be ample ways for MySpace members to bring the videos into their own pages).   MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., has been playing second fiddle to YouTube, but its video viewing figures have been rising rapidly, according to a study. In April, ComScore that that more than 50 million people in the U.S. watched videos on MySpace, compared to almost 58 million on YouTube. MySpace has 110 million users a month.   MySpace has been in the video market since January 2006, but has only recently become more serious about the venture. It’s the only site where you can watch “minisodes,” five-minute versions of ‘80s sitcoms put out by Sony, and was, very briefly, the exclusive site for Michael Eisner’s Prom Queen web shows.   MySpace TV will use short ads, and hopes to have movies from NBC Universal or Fox (Fox is owned by News Corp.), which are working on Internet programming. One factor that will sharpen MySpace TV’s appeal is its use of filtering software, which can determine if uploaded video is in breach of copyright.   “We haven’t really freshened up our video offering since we launched it,” explained Chris DeWolfe, the CEO and co-founder of MySpace. “We wanted to highlight the fact that we have a video destination on the Web with all this great content that we’ve acquired.”   Like YouTube, MySpace TV will be international, available in 15 countries and seven different languages.The move comes as YouTube is making an initial foray into social networking on its site. The new MySpace TV will link closely to MySpace pages. Each member page will link to a MySpace TV channel, where users can upload videos. Later this year, there will also be a feature, allowing users to mash-up videos into fresh pieces.