Patrick Walker is "the rock star in the room", apparently, because everyone wants to hear what he wants to say. He's the head of content partnerships at Google Video, so really the guy the broadcasters need to talk to if they know what's good for them...
He described Google as a Swiss Army Knife (that's TM, I believe) of tools that content companies can use. "We come in peace," he'd like the room to believe. "What we're doing with Google Video is finding ways to match people with content, and producers of content with people around the world." That about information, accessibility, ease of use and providing ways for people to contribute their own content. "As a company, we're about search and advertising."
He pointed out that what Google has done from the outset is focus its business on the user experience. "If you do the first part well, the business comes later. It's worth a reminder that Google was founded in 1998, but only started making money in 2001.
"The problem Google solved originally without a business plan was that it was difficult to find things on the web. It's the same with YouTube - it was difficult to share video." Google's strategy in advertising is all about relevance, he said. "They are in no way a barrier to what the consumer wants to do."
Is Google competing with broadcasters? Can that really be the case when it doesn't actually produce its own content? Helen Boaden, director of news at the BBC, said Google isn't competing in a straightforward sense. "But in terms of trust it's foolish to underestimate the impact of new entrants in the marketplace."
She quoted an online survey that concluded the BBC was the most trusted news provider - and Google was second. "Audiences like aggregated material they can pick and choose from, so there's competition in the relationship we have with our audience."
Boaden said the BBC was lucky that former director general John Birt saw well ahead and embraced this new world, even though most of his colleagues thought he was mad at the time.
"We didn't understand what internet was going to do. But one of the reasons that the mindset of the BBC is to embrace this world, to build participation and connect with audiences, is because relevance is at the heart of what we do. If we become irrelevant the audiences will go somewhere else."
Walker said that when an organisation gets big, people like to smack it around. That's certainly true of Google, which most old media companies view with a curious combination of awe, raging jealousy and a rabbit-in-headlights bewilderment.
But he said, again, that Google wants to work hard to establish strong content partnerships in the next six months and that those partnerships can help build new revenue streams. Perhaps he's hoping that will fend off at least a couple of copyright infringement lawsuits.
