UNINNOVATE / Engineering At Its Finest

Two notable online video websites were launched within a month of each other in the last quarter of 2005. One was called MtvU Uber and was Mtv’s attempt to reach college users with an online-only channel that users could program themselves by using “setlists” and featured student-produced content. Another was a no-name startup by some former PayPal employees called YouTube.com that allowed users to upload their own videos. Earlier this month, Google purchased YouTube.com for $1.65 billion, which is 6.5% of the total value of Viacom, the conglomerate that owns Mtv and many other televsions networks. Ask an average college student if they prefer to use YouTube.com or MtvU Uber and the most likely response is “Uber what?”

While YouTube.com allows anyone to upload video and makes the video available to everyone using any type of modern computer, MtvU Uber carefully selects videos and only works with Internet Explorer on Windows-based computers. Even though the content on MtvU Uber is free for anyone to access, users can only view videos with a special player that requires Windows DRM. Anyone attempting to access MtvU Uber with a Macintosh computer or using a browser like Firefox will see a message like this one:

Both MtvU Uber and YouTube.com are supported by advertising. Advertising revenue is determined by the number of users that a business can drive to it’s website. According to web traffic ranking website Alexa.com, YouTube.com is the #9 most popular website on the entire internet while MtvU.com ranks as #61,990. The following comparison graph provided by Alexa.com shows that MtvU.com’s traffic is so low that it appears as a flat line at zero when compared with YouTube.com.

While pervasive DRM isn’t helping MtvU Uber reach users, it is only one of several reasons that MtvU Uber has failed to capture the attention of the public. Unninovation is a way of thinking that extends beyond simple technical measures like DRM.
YouTube.com adopted a model where the user is completely in charge. It was a brave move by young entreprenuers who were either too smart to kowtow to the wishes of media corporations or too experienced to worry about who might not like it. Mtv played it safe and now its online venture is fading into obscurity. Innovation is all about changing the way the game is played. Uninnovation is about playing the game safely at the expense of the user. Safe moves don’t build $1.65B businesses in a year’s time. As Cory Doctorow said, technology companies need to stop listening to the media establishment and “go and eat their lunch!” If they don’t, some kids with a no-name startup will.

Update: Watch what happens when an mtvu.com link gets posted on fark.com and many of the users can’t make the videos play on their computers.  In true fark.com fashion, Hilarity ensues.

technorati tags:uninnovation, mtvu, uber, youtube, drm