Ever since Google acquired Youtube, users have questioned the point of its previous video service, Google Video.
Now the company has decided to suspend support for the service, a decision that probably should have been made years ago.
In 2009, users were no longer able to upload new content to Google Video, but all existing uploads remained available for streaming. The new announcement is that these videos will be wiped away entirely.
“We’ve always maintained that the strength of Google Video is its ability to let people search videos from across the Web, regardless of where those videos are hosted. And this move will enable us to focus on developing these technologies further to the benefit of searchers worldwide,” Google wrote in an e-mail to Google Video account holders.
According to industry statistics, Google Video accounts for no more than 1% of the company’s overall online video presence, so this move should have little to no impact on the market.
Not surprisingly, Google’s message to users tis “to move your content to YouTube if you haven’t done so already.”
The final date for Google Video is April 29, though users will still be able to access and manage their uploads through a back-end portal until May 13.
