Monty Python and the Holy YouTube Channel

I came across a fascinating story at Slashfilm this weekend regarding, of all things, Monty Python. The creative forces behind the TV sketch series and movies have long been the target of YouTube pirating, with users posting the popular material left and right. In an attempt to combat copyright infringers, Monty Python has created its own YouTube channel where one can watch clips from not only the sketch show, but from the movies as well. The channel is both free and legal, in addition, when a clip is playing, a small popup shows up in the video with links to purchase Monty Python DVDs on Amazon. The hope was that viewers who were interested in the material they watched would then go on to purchase their own copy online.

The result was a staggering success: Slashfilm reports a 23,000% (yes, that's twenty-three thousand percent) increase in Monty Python sales since the YouTube channel started. Sales didn't merely double or triple, they went up exponentionally. It's an astounding indicator that, contrary to popular belief, making episodes available online at no cost is not necessarily a bad business move. Consider this: when the average joe takes a scene from a Monty Python episode and puts it up on YouTube, viewers are most likely unaware that complete episodes are available on DVD. They'll chuckle over the video and move on to other parts of the internet. Few will take the effort to find out if there are DVDs to purchase. With the new official channel, one is alerted right off the bat that they can buy DVDs, and to make matters even simpler, a link is provided right to the page. If this test case is anything to go by, this is a business model that works.

The fact that Monty Python is using YouTube is interesting based on some of the research I did for a post on Hulu and YouTube last year. Many believe that studios and distributers were hesitant of using YouTube because they don't want to mix their content with home content of unprofessional users. But as Monty Python officials have seemed to figure out, the only way to combat the sharing of your material is to challenge competitors on their home court, fighting poor quality clips with high definition videos. Viewers choosing between two free videos will usually go with the one of better quality; once you have them hooked, you can advertise away to your heart's content.

Incidentally, YouTube is not the only place where free material is connected with links to DVDs. Hulu also has certain television shows, such as the first two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer available for free on its site, with a link to find out about box sets directly below the media player. While I do not know the stats behind the success of these links, I'm sure they must have some effect; I'm sure that I will be at least Netflixing the rest of the series when I run out of free episodes to watch on Hulu. That makes me a potential investor in four more seasons. Seems like good business sense to me.