More YouTube than original

MYSTERY GUEST

A desi user-generated content site doesn't match up.

As a regular marauder of YouTube's loot of video content, I was curious to examine what its Indian clone Meravideo.com had to offer. First, it is, as is candidly claimed, an absolute doppelganger, using a readymade script derived from its global precedent. This is Mumbai-based BrainGain Media's first foray into the user-generated content space.

So, comparisons are unavoidable if you are a copycat. At first sight, the Meravideo user interface is fairly straightforward, albeit too busy. Navigating your way through content is tougher though because the tagging isn't exactly comprehensive. YouTube does well to highlight the more deserving content with some degree of editorial intervention so that you don't have to go through reams of content.

Meravideo also has a "featured videos" section, but the content doesn't suggest superlatives. Expect an unleashing of drunken tirades and bad dancing and occasionally a piece of cricketing history. Thankfully, although the most-viewed videos on Meravideo suggest semi-pornographic content, there is a system for flagging smut.

The other point about content is that better known user-generated content sites actually have professional content partners, with tie-ups with big studios for content. Perhaps what might help is providing incentives, so if Meravideo, at some later stage, would get its most prolific content creators to participate in a revenue-sharing programme. Viewership is obviously still small on Meravideo. It'll be a while before we see the directorial finesse of some content on YouTube.

Meravideo also has to get its connectors right. When I subjected myself to "Aunty Seema reciting Humpty Dumpty", the site suggested I view related videos. Except they weren't related at all!

But what of the all-important quality of video, you ask? Well, some videos are heavily pixelated and don't even open up in the full screen viewing option.

The target audience for Meravideo is clearly demarcated "" it's designed to be a video sharing online hub for Indians around the world. It does attract a lot of farcical ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) humour. The question to ask however is, in today's age is it an error to even classify web content as "American" or "Indian"?

Score: 4/10, for the site lacks originality. When anyone can access the original why bother with a clone?