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  1. #1
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    Utube.com hammered

    Story here.
    Utube.com, a Web site owned by a supplier of used tubes and pipes, has been swamped this week with visitors confusing it with online video service YouTube.

    The site has been barely operational since Google said Monday that it will buy YouTube for $1.65 billion.

    "I'm at a point now, all I want to do is to make the site work," Ralph Girkins, owner of the site belonging to Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, said Thursday.

    "Today, it's been up the longest it's been up for a week--an hour and a half," said Ohio-based Girkins.

    Utube.com is the sixth most popular U.S. manufacturing Web site, ahead of Whirlpool, according to data provided by HitWise.

    On Monday, Girkins told Reuters that an intermediary who said he was acting on behalf of YouTube had offered $1 million to buy the Internet address. Girkins said turned down the offer and was holding out for $2.5 million to $3 million.

    A YouTube representative said it had not made an offer and had no plans to do so.

    On Thursday, Girkins said he had received about 20 phone calls from people who offered to sell his site for him. He has not been in contact with Google or YouTube, he said.
    Bad move there from youtube, branding "youtube" when utube.com was already existant. Although I think youtube is a snazzy domain, it's not optimal with brand spillage to utube.com being inevidable.

    utube.com - Creation Date: 26-oct-1996
    Youtube.com - Creation Date: 15-feb-2005

    All that brand spillage, from youtube over to utube. What a waste. I'm sure Google will dig deep to buy utube.com, so as to protect their investment.
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  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie Bob
    Story here.

    Bad move there from youtube, branding "youtube" when utube.com was already existant. Although I think youtube is a snazzy domain, it's not optimal with brand spillage to utube.com being inevidable.

    utube.com - Creation Date: 26-oct-1996
    Youtube.com - Creation Date: 15-feb-2005

    All that brand spillage, from youtube over to utube. What a waste. I'm sure Google will dig deep to buy utube.com, so as to protect their investment.
    I agree, Google will fork out the wanted amount.

  3. #3
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    Hey look, aussie bob's complaining about youtube again.


    Do you have anything good to say about the site, bob?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by adam
    I agree, Google will fork out the wanted amount.
    They definitely should've worked to snatch the domain utube.com before purchasing youtube.com IMO or do so through a 3rd party
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by ub3r
    Hey look, aussie bob's complaining about youtube again.
    Hey look, yet another useless comment by ub3r.
    Do you have anything good to say about the site, bob?
    Sure, but that has nothing to do with this thread, or the utube.com domain and brand spillage over from youtube.com. If you can't discuss this specific issue, don't bother.
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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cirtex
    They definitely should've worked to snatch the domain utube.com before purchasing youtube.com IMO or do so through a 3rd party
    They'll have to do something. All that brand spillage over to utube.com, is not good, when you've invested billions of your own stock into youtube. They can't come after the utube.com owner for cybersquatting too, as he was there long before youtube came onto the scene. The utube owner is also sufferring with their site being hammered with that brand spillage. This is hurting them, if they don't have the hosting setup to handle that spillage.

    My guess is that utube will sell that domain to google, as it's in both of their best interests to do so. There's little value in all that youtube traffic spilling over into utube, and it's only causing problems for utube.

    It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
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  7. #7
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    ub3r
    TROLLIN ACROSS THE USA

    what do you expect from him lol
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  8. #8
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    Well, it's certainly not at the top of the website chain, but it ranks at 25000 at Alexa which is an impressive number

    Here's what's telling, look at their traffic graph (in reach per million).

    man what a gold mine for sales that is.

    http://www.fastnoc.com/stuff/graph.png
    Show your reciprocal links on your website. eReferrer

  9. #9
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    Wow. I'm sure google will fork out the money one way or another -- just not $3 million...
    GeeksGather - Undergoing redevelopment. Stand by.

  10. #10
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    $3 mill is small change if they're doing a $2B YouTube project. UTube.com sound better than YouTube anyway, it's sound more Net Gen.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by PixelManual
    Wow. I'm sure google will fork out the money one way or another -- just not $3 million...
    You mean more or less than $3 million for the domain?

    I think if Google pursue that domain, then they'll offer a combination of cash and advertising credits, or something like that. They might even buy the utube.com domain with google stock. Cash is not the only commodity Google can trade with, as seen with the youtube all stock purchase.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by FluffyTigger
    $3 mill is small change if they're doing a $2B YouTube project. UTube.com sound better than YouTube anyway, it's sound more Net Gen.
    Yeah, I'd agree with that. Youtube sounds a bit conformist, while utube sounds edgy and rebellious. Of course, branding 101 says you'd own both domains.
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  13. #13
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    prehaps they could do something similar to firefox.com so that neither one losses customer traffic
    I could tell you a joke about UDP. But I'm not sure you would get it!

  14. #14
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    By that I meant the guy will hold out for even more -- as Fluffy said, it's a $2 Billion project. 3 mill is a drop in the pot for a venture such as this.

    Although, it could set a precedent with any domain or anything being google related is an instant gold mine, which is why they may refuse to do so. People will catch on quick either way
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  15. #15
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    Google will pay it... just think if utube decided to go porn or something...
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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by PixelManual
    By that I meant the guy will hold out for even more -- as Fluffy said, it's a $2 Billion project. 3 mill is a drop in the pot for a venture such as this.
    Yeah, I'd agree with that. The figure could go past 10 million, imo. Could set a record for the most paid for a domain. Funny thing is, that would generate worldwide media attention, and that media exposure would be worth tens of millions of dollars to Google, so they can't lose, if they pay a heap for that domain.

    It depends on how they want to develop the youtube brand out. They might roll the youtube brand into Google video. I doubt that, but it's a slight possibility.
    Although, it could set a precedent with any domain or anything being google related is an instant gold mine, which is why they may refuse to do so. People will catch on quick either way
    Problem with that is Google's legal arm will squash anyone cybersquatting near their space. This situation is unique because utube.com was trading looooooooong before youtube.com came onto the scene, and Google have inherited youtube's incompetance, for branding youtube.com without owning the utube.com domain. It was a major brand stuffup by youtube, but I'm sure Google can deal with it without breaking a sweat.
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie Bob
    Story
    Bad move there from youtube, branding "youtube" when utube.com was already existant. Although I think youtube is a snazzy domain, it's not optimal with brand spillage to utube.com being inevidable.
    Bit picky arent you, i would not be bothered about a little spillage as you put it if i were getting a few hundred million hits a week. Christ any one us including Inet (or whoever owns this site) would kill for half that amount.

  18. #18
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    How about yootube or ewe-tube or youtoob or eutoob or.....

  19. #19
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    3 million isn't much, i would ask for 5 million atleast

  20. #20
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    So how many hosts sent an email to this guy offering to fix his problems?

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by phill2003
    Bit picky arent you, i would not be bothered about a little spillage as you put it if i were getting a few hundred million hits a week.
    Yes, I am very picky about brand, as everyone needs to be. You can't brand youtube.com if you don't own utube.com. It's just a bad branding move, and one Google will now have to pay for.

    This thread is not about criticising the youtube founders for their brand stuffup, but was more about the utube.com owner, and his site being hammered with all the traffic spilling over from youtube. This is actually creating a liability for him, as that youtube traffic is just a burden to the utube hosting infrastructure. He could seek damages, but I think he'll sell, for the right price.
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  22. #22
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    this thread sounds like someone has learnt a new word... "brand spillage"

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iwannasite
    How about yootube or ewe-tube or youtoob or eutoob or.....
    If you register a domain that's close to youtube.com, looking for traffic spillage, Google will come after you with a big stick. They will aggressively pursue cybersquatters, but utube.com is not cybersquatting. They were there many years before youtube and are in a totally different industry.

    It's in utube.com's best interests to rebrand, as all that youtube.com spillage is only harming them. Infact, I can't access the utube.com site now.
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  24. #24
    I think big G will end up buying out utube
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  25. #25
    hana thats nice I wish I owned uTUBE

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