Written By Sepideh Saremi | March 12, 2008 | Share This |

YouTube has just released a new set of APIs that will allow site owners to utilize the video sharing site as a white-label video service. Users will be able to upload content and do everything else they could do on YouTube, like post comments, but from their own sites. This will undoubtedly help YouTube keep its spot as the Internet’s top video site and will challenge existing video companies with white-label services that aren’t free, like Brightcove. From the Google Code blog, here’s a simple explanation of what the APIs will allow people to do:

That means that if, for example, you run a site just for iguana enthusiasts, your users can upload videos of JubJub to their YouTube accounts, post comments, create iguana playlists, and more, all without leaving your site. And with the new player APIs and the new chromeless player, you can completely customize and skin the YouTube embedded player to match the look and feel of your site (a green theme, buttons that look like scales?).

Mashable reports that visitors to a site will also be able to upload their own videos to their own YouTube accounts without ever leaving that site.

More:

Google’s case studies of companies that are already using YouTube’s APIs include EA and UC Berkeley.
Update: TechCrunch’s post has a comment from the YouTube product manager, who says the service is not white-label (it’s still You-Tube branded) and notes the ability to monetize is very limited… but I think it’s close enough to white-label - hey, free hosting! - that it should make the white-label companies, like Brightcove, nervous.

Topics: Google, Online Video |