What's Valuable about YouTube?

I don't think it's the endless user generated content - a lot of it really sucks. I also don't think it is the free copyrighted content that is provided - it is not that expensive after all. But what really makes a difference is the focus that u get on quality sections of copyrighted content.

If someone spends time ripping of a scene off a dvd or off TV then this is probably worth watching at least for certain people. It saves other users having to sit for a complete episode or show to get to that particularly interesting part and having to bear with less interesting if not boring sections.

A competitor to YouTube might be better off limiting it's content to copyrighted content, but have users do the programming. The users would select which scene's to publish, and the business model can be based on revenue sharing with the original content owner and the publishing users.

It's funny that this strategy is largely inline with YouTube's slogan, "Broadcast Yourself". But Youtube now became, "Produce & Broadcast Yourself"