In the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein looks at the extraordinary influence of YouTube:
APPEARING on "The Daily Show" the other night to plug his new Comedy Central program, "Freak Show," David Cross joked that he assumed all the viewers had already seen the show. You're right, Stewart said with a laugh, "None of them get Comedy Central, they all [go to] YouTube."
Welcome to the new media universe, where for millions of video junkies, the best TV network in America isn't Comedy Central, MTV, ESPN or even HBO, but YouTube, the amazing website whose video clips are viewed more than 100 million times each day. Launched last year, the website has enjoyed an astounding ascent, being bought last week by Google for $1.65 billion. In an era increasingly defined by audience-driven events, YouTube represents the triumph of bottom-up culture and another sign that old media businesses, from record companies and TV networks to newspapers like The Times, are going to see more of their audience migrating to the Internet.
Read more here. (It is interesing to note, however, that Comedy Central has now aksed YouTube to remove its clips - see here.)
