YouTube have just launched a new service called YouTube Direct. It’s an extension of the existing API designed to enable news websites to take advantage of the increasing volume of ‘citizen reporting’ content being published on YouTube.
The main elements:
1. Embeddable uploader
You don’t have to leave the page – the customisable uploader sits on your news corp site (or wherever). Users with an existing YouTube account can log in to YouTube through it and then choose to submit an existing video from their account or upload a new video, as demonstrated in the screenshot.
2. Moderation Console
Does what it says on the tin – it’s a fairly straightforward looking moderation system that allows you to keep track of submitted videos, preview, approve and find out more about each video submitted. Here’s a video demo of it:
Some of the big FAQs answered on their FAQ page:
Q: Who owns the videos submitted via YouTube Direct?
A: The user who submits the video on your site via YouTube Direct owns the video. The video is uploaded to his or her YouTube account and is automatically made public on YouTube.com. By submitting it through your site, the user may grant you a license to use the video according to a set of Terms of Service that you set forth, assuming it does not conflict with YouTube’s Terms of Service.
Q: What happens if the user decides to remove the video?
A: If a user decides to delete a video after he or she has submitted it to your site via YouTube Direct, then this video will be removed from YouTube, and thus will no longer play anywhere on your site that the video has been embedded or linked to. When this happens, there will be a flag visible in the moderation panel indicating that the video is not longer live on YouTube, and any reference to it on your site should also be removed.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: YouTube Direct is free, but there may be a small cost associated with your Google App Engine account, depending on the amount of traffic being served.
Looks tasty. Will be interesting to see who will use it from both content creators and broadcasters. Read all about it at http://www.youtube.com/direct