Google ‘here to help’ broadcasters, insists director

"Work with us. We're here to help you," Google director Andy Thoms told public service broadcasters at the European Broadcast Union (EBU) online media summit in Dublin. Thoms was introduced to broadcasting executives by Mike Mullane, the EBU's head of media online, with the line "half of us love you to bits and half of us think you're the devil".

Thoms noted that the EBU's most famous child, the Eurovision Song Contest, was streamed live on YouTube for the first time last May, while public broadcasters such as youth-oriented BBC Radio 1 have long developed "a strong presence" on the Google-owned platform.

The on-demand media revolution is “only going to continue”, concluded Thoms, who is responsible for Google’s relationships in entertainment and media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He hoped that European broadcasters would carry on creating “amazing content” in the future. “We’re here to partner with you along the way.”

His Google sales pitch didn’t quite get down to the nitty-gritty enough for Mullane. “What’s in it for you? For Google?” he wondered.

“We get the satisfaction of creating amazing products that everyone in the world can use,” answered Thoms.

But how would he respond to the charge that Google is “living off the creativity of others, stealing the crown jewels of other companies”?

“I personally disagree with that view,” Thoms replied.

There’s a surprise.