On Sunday, U2 played a gig at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California as part of their current world tour. It streamed live on YouTube and managed to rack up 10 million viewers. Which is a huge success for both Google and the Akamai content delivery network which handled the event.

Live Success

YouTube is no stranger to live streaming, having experimented with the method of broadcasting a few times since being acquired by Google. However, Sunday night’s U2 concert was a hit like the site has never experienced before.

When competing with the bread and butter of YouTube – the viral videos generated by users – the U2 concert was a relative failure, but gaining such a large audience for an event such as this is nothing short of spectacular.

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U2 are a hugely popular group with fans from every part of the world, many of whom will never get to see the band live. But YouTube is offering those fans the chance to experience the next best thing – live streaming of their California gig this Sunday (Oct. 25).

Live Streaming

Live streaming video is an everyday occurrence on the Web these days, with lifecasting sites such as Justin.tv, UStream, and Livestream (formerly known as Mogulus) offering everyone the chance to air an event to the wider world.

Last month saw Livestream launch Livepack, which includes all the kit required to film and stream live events such as weddings, graduations, and concerts. And all in a compact enough size to fit in a backpack.

U2 On YouTube

While that is a brilliant innovation, live streaming of big events is still a relatively rare treat for Internet users. I’m talking about rock concerts from big, well-known bands. Like for instance, I don’t know, U2.

Which is exactly who is lined up for a live streaming event on YouTube this coming weekend. As the video below previews, YouTube will live stream U2’s sold-out gig at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California this Sunday.

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It was three years ago today that Chad Hurley and Steve Chen sold YouTube to Google for $1.65 billion. It has celebrated that anniversary by revealing the site now gets over one billion views a day worldwide and talking a little about the future.

Three Years Ago Today

It seems like just yesterday that the co-founders of YouTube sold the site to Google. In fact, it was a full three years ago that Google decided to ante up $1.65 billion for the fledgling online video site.

We found out just yesterday that Google CEO Eric Schmidt thought that price tag was around $1 billion out, with the site actually worth more like $600 million. But Google wanted the site so badly it was willing to pay a premium for it.

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Were you one of the many who back in 2006 wondered why on earth Google was paying $1.65 billion for YouTube, a site with no revenue and a ton of problems? Then you weren’t alone because even Google CEO Eric Schmidt thought it was overpriced.

YouTube Is Go

In February of 2005, a site popped up on the Internet that would cause a massive shift in how video is served on the Web. It would ease the process, and provide a platform for video of all kinds, mostly user-generated content.

Its name, if you hadn’t already guessed, was YouTube. And it has grown in the last four years to become one of the biggest and most popular sites on the Web, with millions of people from all corners of the world visiting and using the site on a daily basis.

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As a trial begins in Italy against Google employees over an offensive user-uploaded video, the question of who is responsible for user-generated content has to be asked. Is it the user or is it the Web site that has to morally and legally take the blame for what is uploaded?

Online Video Wild West

In 2006, before Google had bought YouTube, Google Video was its entry into the online video market. Looking back now, both Google Video and YouTube were pretty lawless back then, with few of the checks and balances on content being uploaded to the sites.

This lawlessness lead to Viacom suing YouTube for $1 billion over the copyrighted clips it claims were allowed on the site. But it also lead to another lawsuit, smaller, and less publicized, but still important.

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The storm in a teacup which saw everyone, YouTube, Warner, and viewers, lose out when music videos were pulled from the video-sharing site is over.

YouTube and Warner Music Group have now forged a new deal which will see WMG having its own branded player and able to sell its own advertising inventory.

Warner Walks Away

It was late December 2008 when Warners decided to pull all its music videos from YouTube. It happened due to a breakdown in communications while the two parties were trying to thrash out a new licensing deal. The ones that had been in place for years were coming to an end.

As always, it came down to money. The Warner Music Group wanted a bigger slice of the revenue pie and YouTube was unwilling to deliver. Regardless of who was right and wrong, the incident helped no one in the end.

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If Google started streaming movies on YouTube for a fee, could it make money, serious money at that? A financial analyst thinks so, and said as much this morning while urging people to buy Google shares. This may be a little premature seeing as the move hasn’t even been confirmed as yet.

YouTube Revenue Streams

YouTube is a hugely popular site, one responsible for turning millions of people on to online video. But its 400 million-plus worldwide user base so far gets the full run of the site for free, with only adverts occasionally passing in front of their eyes.

Whether a purely advertising-based business model is enough for the site has long been the subject of debate. Regardless, I’m sure Google would like to see higher returns on the $1.65 billion it paid to acquire the site a few years ago.

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