I’ve spent quite a bit of time publishing and consuming content on both Google Video and YouTube over the last year and a half. As a result I’ve come to some definite conclusions on how business can and should use both services.

Since both services are now owned by Google they are in the unique position to win no matter what I say here. Hopefully the lords of Google will listen and use my feedback to improve both services.

The title of this post says it all as far as I’m concerned. If I’m a business wanting to publish viral video on the internet then I go with Google Video for the following reasons:

• Less Distracting Interface - GV has none of the very distracting ads that you’ll find on YouTube. At any given time while perusing your content on YouTube a viewer is inundated with a variety of other distractions that can take them away from your message.
• Simpler Content Options - YouTube hits you with a wider variety of options on content info such as whether or not to allow comments in video format. GV is simpler and doesn’t allow commenting, which means you can bring the conversation (along with the video) to your own domain.

• Better Flash Encoding - I’ve uploaded the same video to both services several times and the result of GV is better every time. YouTube stretches out the video to the size of their player causing blurriness and pixelation.
• Downloading and RSS Support - GV allows users to download your videos in a variety of formats. No such luck with YouTube. As a bonus you get a nice (albeit hidden) RSS feed with enclosures for your content. So people can subscribe to you in podcast catching apps like Juice or iTunes. 
• Sortable Stats You Can Download - I like GV’s very basic but very usable reporting features that allow you to look at both plays and downloads over varying periods of time. You can download your stats views to a CSV file. Google recently added a feature that provides a small chart showing views with a breakdown between web plays via their site, email or embedding.

For all of these reasons I think that Google Video trounces YouTube as a video platform for business. Those who disagree will probably say, “But the audience is on YouTube!”

Those words are true enough. But increasingly YouTube has become an out of control environment. Sure, some YouTube vids will become sensations. But I don’t think businesses get too much benefit in the long run from being a one hit wonder. And YouTube is not a site that respects the brand of any other company.

My strong recommendation is that businesses who desire the benefits of free hosting do so with Google Video. They can then take their videos and create communities around those videos on their own domains. More on how to do that later.

At least for the moment, I think that Google Video should be the platform of choice for businesses looking to leverage free hosting,  search engine visibility and value added features.  

[tags]Social Media, Google Video, YouTube, Video, Video Blogging[/tags]