Forbes and Silicon Alley Insider have insight into YouTube’s revenue.

A quick overview:

• Google may be making $200 million from YouTube this year and $350 million next year.
• A front page ad on YouTube goes for about $175,000 per day plus a commitment to spend at least $50,000 more on YouTube or Google.
• A branded YouTube channel goes for about $200,000.
• YouTube is the undiputed leader in online video.
• Google’s position gives them great insight into user habits and is allowing them to fine tune the ad experience and model (that will likely become the industry standard).

It was not too long ago that Netflix rolled out the ability for people to stream movies from its website, eliminating the wait for DVDs to arrive via mail (they do a great job at that, BTW).  You will now be able to watch “Heroes” at netflix.com a day after it airs on NBC.  How’s that for NBC getting out of the TV box… this sounds like the first of more to come.  And, makes me think: could Netflix rival iTunes, Amazon, Joost, Hulu in ways we may not have considered.  Speaking of Hulu, this move is kind of interesting with that respect.  And of course there is always Blockbuster, yawn (i still want my $2 — still bitter over late fees).  Sounds like the beginning of what could become Netflix 2.0, if they expand the concept a lot more.  They have a good brand for it.

Netflix to offer ‘Heroes’ online
NBC Universal agrees to ‘next day’ episode service

Colorado Rockies fans — and anyone wanting to go to the World Series in Denver — were hit with “cannot find server” messages this morning as the tickets went on-sale at 10am MST. The only way to purchase tickets is online. Go figure, a lot of people went online to buy tickets. Did someone not have the foresight to see that a LOT of people might want to buy World Series tickets…and some hefty web servers would been needed to handle the load? Sounds like a job for Amazon, Yahoo or Google…. verses whatever service was used (evenue.net).

Here is a story in the Denver Post.

Good to see the Internet is being used to sell tickets to the World Series. Not good that someone did not take the “load” serious enough.

Play ball!!! ….when the server comes back online…

Update:

Getting there? (2pm) …

…and one blogger’s account of today… here, here and here (we hope the locals get to share in the experience!! MLB, do not leave the fans behind.)

Another update:

MLB/Rockies to reschedule online ticket sale due to Web site outage.  No exact time set at this point.  Official release here and below.  check coloradorockies.com for further details as this develops.   Paciolan: time to play like a major leaguer!

This morning, after more than 8.5 million hits on the Colorado Rockies website, Paciolan, Major League Baseball’s ticket vendor, experienced a system wide outage that impacted all of its North American customers. As a result, the Colorado Rockies have suspended the sale of 2007 World Series tickets scheduled to be played at Coors Field.

“It’s been an extremely frustrating morning for our fans and the entire Rockies’ organization,” said Keli McGregor, Rockies’ team president. “We are working diligently with Major League Baseball and Paciolan to resolve the issues impacting online ticket sales for the 2007 World Series.” Although some ticket transactions (less than 500 seats) did take place this morning, virtually the entire allotment for all three games of the World Series scheduled for Coors Field remains intact. A plan for the sale of the available World Series tickets will be announced as soon as the details are available.

A look at how CBS sees Last.fm and how it is/will/may integrate Last.fm with its product portfolio – link

While we’re on the topic of music and the labels in this “new” era (talk about timing)… Ian Rogers, of Yahoo! Music, has come out against what you could dub as insanity: trying the same approach over and over..and hoping for a different result (not his words). The rules changed. Ian’s take is refreshing, not simply because of the words, but because of his position and that if these thoughts have reached Yahoo! in such an outward manner… a new era could be ahead of us. Here is one more example of the new rules, 8 years later as Ian states…

Excerpts from Ian Rogers’ blog:

Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses and Content vs. Context, a Presentation for Some Music Industry Friends -

…eight years later, Amazon’s [MP3] finally done what was clearly the right solution in 1999. Music in the format that people actually want it in, with a Web-based experience that’s simple and works with any device.

… It only took 8 years. 8 years. How much opportunity have we lost in those 8 years?

…Yahoo! Music demonstrates this scale discrepancy perfectly. Yahoo! is the world’s #1 Internet destination. Hundreds of millions of people visit Yahoo! each month. Yahoo! Music is the #1 Music site on the Web, with tens of millions of monthly visitors. Between 10 and 20 million people watch music videos on Yahoo! Music every month. Between 5 and 10 million people listen to radio on Yahoo! Music every month. But the ENTIRE subscription music market (including Rhapsody, Napster, and Yahoo!) is in the low millions …, even after years of marketing by all three companies.

When you compare the experiences on Yahoo! Music, the order of magnitude difference in opportunity shouldn’t be a surprise: Want radio? No problem. Click play, get radio. Want video? Awesome. Click play, get video. Want a track on-demand? Oh have we got a deal for you! If you’re on Windows XP or Vista, and you’re in North America, just download this 20MB application, go through these seven install screens, reboot your computer, go through these five setup screens, these six credit card screens, give us $160 dollars and POW! Now you can hear that song you wanted to hear…if you’re still with us.

…History tells us: convenience wins, hubris loses.

I’m here to tell you today that I for one am no longer going to fall into this trap. If the licensing labels offer their content to Yahoo! put more barriers in front of the users, I’m not interested. … I won’t let Yahoo! invest any more money in consumer inconvenience. I will tell Yahoo! to give the money they were going to give me to build awesome media applications to Yahoo! Mail or Answers or some other deserving endeavor. I personally don’t have any more time to give and can’t bear to see any more money spent on pathetic attempts for control instead of building consumer value. Life’s too short. I want to delight consumers, not bum them out.

If, on the other hand, you’ve seen the light too, there’s a very fun road ahead for us all. Lets get beyond talking about how you get the music and into building context: reasons and ways to experience the music. The opportunity is in the chasm between the way we experience the content and the incredible user-created context of the Web.

Radiohead still needs major label to let world see its “Rainbows”TechCrunch reports Nine Inch Nails are now free agents… that’s right, no label. They follow Radiohead, and of course are not alone.

The Labels have been poor to respond. When will they get it? Napster was like 8 years ago; and just think about how much the world has continued to change since then. Will 2007 be the tipping point? If not, then 2008 has to be.

Update 10/12:
ars technica offers a little more depth to this issue…
Radiohead still needs major label to let world see its “Rainbows”