There have been whispers going around for a while now that Google may be interested in buying YouTube… the site that serves up over 100 million videos EACH FRIGGING DAY! A lot of people have dismissed these rumours… but guess what… it’s DONE! Google bought them for a reported $1.65 BILLION!!!

So why is this movie news? Well boys and girls, because Google NEVER EVER EVER does things just for the heck of it. When they do something… there is a plan behind it. And although I’m only speculating… I’ll bet almost anything that buying YouTube is a part of a larger plan for Google to get into online movie distribution. Apple and Amazon must be crapping their pants right about now.

I’m not the only one who thinks this either. The good folks over atCinematicalgave their two cents worth on this too:

谷歌似乎是设置the stage for their own effort in the same arena. While YouTube has been more popular for short-form videos such as short home movie clips and television shows, as compression gets better and they establish a revenue model, you will almost certainly see full-length movies available for download through YouTube.

This could set the stage for a MASSIVE upheaval in the online movie trend. Not only for Hollywood movie downloading (for probably a lot cheaper than the competition) but also for a new viable distribution method for independent filmmakers. The potential ramifications of this deal are so mind blowingly huge that it’s impossible to go into all of them now.

Mark my words… this event… Google buying YouTube… will be a landmark event that we’ll be talking about for YEARS. It will be an event that we all point back to 5 years from now as the initial event that “Changed everything” in terms of online movie distribution. This is history (in our limited scope anyway).I’ll write more on this later.