YouTube is doomed, says analyst

And it’s not the only one to think so…

Another internet research company has predicted doom for YouTube’s business model.

Copyright issues that have plagued video-sharing site YouTube since its official launch almost a year ago will mean “YouTube will get sued. And it will lose”, according to Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler, analysts for Forrester Research, writing on a blog posted last week.

Lawsuits will trigger a chain reaction, according to the analysts, in which YouTube will be forced to remove all copyrighted material – and that means excising most of the professionally made content. What’s left will leave YouTube with videos that are “a lot less interesting”, said the Forrester analysts.

YouTube representatives did not respond to an interview request.

The Forrester opinion comes three months after research firm IDC came to a similar conclusion and less than a week after HDNet founder Mark Cuban told a group of advertisers “only a moron would buy YouTube”. Both Forrester and IDC research companies argue YouTube will face the same battle fought and lost by file-sharing site Napster.

In a now-famous court case, Napster argued unsuccessfully that it wasn’t responsible for people misusing its file-sharing system to steal music.

Full story: silicon.com