YouTube Refocuses on Premium, and Misses the Point

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Vitale admitted in a phone interview with NewTeeVee that he gave "Poptub" reason to fire him. "There was definitely some times when I could have been more professional," he said. But he contended that he was hired precisely because he wasn't "professional"—he got into video hosting via sketch comedy and announcing surfing contests and the Harlem Globetrotters tour. Vitale said he felt like "Poptub" was struggling to find its way—and changing its expectations of him in the process—partly due to corporate influence from Pepsi and Google.

But rather than get into the grumblings of a fired employee (who maintains he harbors no ill will and hopes the show is successful), I bring up Vitale because—much like the trouble finding CBS episodes and the awkward (but fun!) YouTube Live—the story of "Poptub" is emblematic of YouTube's growing pains. "Poptub" is being given every resource it needs to succeed, but it's having trouble combining high gloss and grassroots.

Which brings us back to YouTube's to-do list: If premium content is next year's top priority, what about this year's stated goal?

YouTube's highest priority for 2008, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, was figuring out "the perfect solution of how to make money."

Despite a flurry of recent ad product launches, we doubt the site can legitimately check that task off its list. But Schmidt may have been putting the cart ahead of the horse; before you can figure out how to make money, you need to figure out what you're selling.

And Hoffner's comment reveals another lapse in self-awareness: YouTube's strength is not premium, nor should it be. Rather, YouTube has a tremendous (and surely monetizable) opportunity to show that premium and user-generated can coexist. All they need to do is figure out how.

Liz Gannes is editor of NewTeeVee.com .