Youtube needs competition

Strategy + Business has a terrific article about media companies' rush to acquire multichannel network (MCN). DreamWorks Animation acquired AwesomenessTV and Disney acquired Maker Studios. I mostly agree with the analysis and the conclusion that YouTube shouldn't be the only must-have partner for MCNs as it leaves them too dependent on one company. Mark Cuban told Barry Ritholtz in the Masters of Business podcast this week that it's harder for small companies to get to the IPO stage because industry regulations have shifted to heavily favor entrenched companies. Mark Cuban also goes to explain how startups are now being acquired before they can grow to become a threat to the incumbent. What does all this mean? It means that YouTube would probably be the dominant platform for MCNs for some time, unless rival companies band together to form a comparable platform Personally, I favor competition as YouTube plans to start paid subscription service because they know that there are no other viable alternatives to YouTube. If there are strong competition, I doubt that YouTube would risk alienating MCNs and users by considering a subscription model. Both the article and the the podcast are great at analyzing the current media market and it's worth checking out if you're interested.