With Google allegedly making life difficult for Microsoft and its plans to create a solid YouTube app for Windows Phone, the company could now be looking to help a competing platform break into the U.S. to better challenge Google's video dominance. The video platform in question is called Dailymotion, one of the few YouTube competitors than can be deemed an alternative.
Dailymotion is owned by French telecom company, Orange, and it is said, according to the Wall Street Journal, that Microsoft is in talks with the company to buy a 10 percent share. It's not a commanding share, but should be enough for the software giant to have a say in Dailymotion's future.
In an interview on French television, Orange CEO Stéphane Richard, made it clear that while talks are happening, a deal between both parties is still uncertain at this point. Richard claims that if a deal should happen, Orange would likely still hold on to the majority of shares, which would give the company the loudest voice.
Interestingly enough, Microsoft isn't the first American company to show interest in Dailymotion. In the past, Yahoo attempted to purchase a controlling stake in the online video portal, but the deal was blocked by the French government, probably because the government has minor shares in Orange. Because of this, it would probably be difficult for Microsoft to take the commanding stake in the company, even if it wanted to. Then again, Yahoo attempts to grab Dailymotion happened back in 2005, a time when YouTube was still an infant and the market was wide open.
Times have changed since then. YouTube is sitting atop the video portal market with no real completion, and Orange is likely wishing Yahoo had gained commanding stakes, as the landscape might have looked very differently today.
If Microsoft does manage to gain 10 percent shares in Dailymotion, how would the software giant influence the future of the online video portal? We expect it to become a central part of future versions of Windows Phone and Windows. However, that won't be enough if it wants the French-owned video portal to give YouTube a run for its money.
Microsoft and Orange would have to give incentives to users who upload compelling original content, along with cleaning up all the pornography found on the site. It's a strange occurrence, but Dailymotion is filled with pornography and many videos that were rejected from YouTube.
Before everything else, the image of this video portal needs improvement.
