Edinburg: Google Inc. is approaching British broadcasters to quell any fears that it plans to compete with them as it rapidly expands a Web-based video delivery system.
Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, is set to speak at an annual gathering of UK television executives in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Saturday, where she plans to hammer home the point that Google wants to be a partner, not a rival.
"Google is a technology company, not a media company," Mayer said in an interview on Friday.
"If we were creating content ourselves, that would create a bias and could affect how we would position other content," she said.
"That's why we've been careful not to create a lot of content." In contrast to earlier dealmaking that raised the spectre of Google becoming dominant in various industries, a spate of recent arrangements with publishers and broadcasters has shown it is willing to take a backseat to its partners and let them reap the lion's share of the revenue.
For example, Google has agreed to distribute clips from Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks using its AdSense network, with the media conglomerate keeping most of the proceeds.
Mayer said Google is being careful to negotiate revenue-sharing splits that try to keep its rivals from swooping in and undercutting it with better deals. "It's better to find where the equilibrium will be and move there sooner," she said.
She declined to comment, however, on whether Google was in discussions to sign up any UK broadcasters as partners.
Google's move to embrace ad-supported Web video delivery comes amid a spike in online video-watching around the world, as more consumers subscribe to high-speed Internet services.
Recently, Google began more heavily promoting its video search capability as a link off its home page - a move that has increased its popularity among US Web video watchers to around No. 3, according to Hitwise.
The leader in the field, YouTube, has come from out of nowhere over the past year to become the most popular place to watch short clips, often created by other Web users.
It serves up 100 million such clips a day. "I think that YouTube does currently have the lead and has a strong and well done product, but I think the space is changing every day, so it doesn't mean whoever's ahead today will remain ahead," Mayer said.
She said Google differentiates its video product by offering premium programmes, such as CBS's "Survivor," and the capability to download some of them onto portable devices.
US-based Google launched its video site in eight European countries, including Britain, last month, and Mayer sees little challenge for it adapting to such markets, which differ radically sometimes from the US in the way people consume media.
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