For Google, Online Video = YouTube

Whenever a Google product adds a feature related to video, YouTube comes into play. Google Talk's gadget lets you watch YouTube videos, orkut lets you add videos from YouTube and Google Video, personalized maps can include videos from the same two Google-owned services, content producers that want to add their videos to Google News need to host them at YouTube and now local business owners can add videos to their Google Maps listings, but only if they are hosted at YouTube.

"In addition to using Google Maps to get local business details, read reviews, and check out photos, I can now also get a sneak peek with embedded videos. Local business owners can easily add YouTube videos along with other content such as business details, photos, and descriptions to their listings. To do so, simply upload your videos to YouTube and ensure that the 'embed' option is turned on," explains Google LatLong Blog.


Online video is more than YouTube and Google Video, but Google seems to ignore this. Even if YouTube's US market share is 73.18% (according to Hitwise), it's unreasonable to think that YouTube should aggregate all the videos that are available online. Google should encourage diversity and choices, instead of selecting the most convenient options.

Related:
Promoting your own services in search results: Google/YouTube vs Yahoo/Flickr