There is no doubt about it: the world of video online is enjoying the beginning of it's real hay day. The world seems to be finding every excuse, every means to watch and create video that will garner attention on the web. It has gone from the Jack-Ass world of stunts and outlandish captured video to a place where video needs to have a purpose - training, news/information, education, entertainment, interaction are all some of the launch pads for the new era of video.
I often joke that prime time used to be 7-11pm in our homes in front of the TV and now it is 9 to 5 at work in front of the computer surfing YouTube, NinjaVideo or any other means of free content that will stream to PCs with ease on our high-speed connections.
It was an interesting journey this weekend as I looked around for clues as to where the future of broadcast online is taking us. Well, I have to admit, save for a few really "thinkamified" players out there, many content providers are still trying to repurpose TV content rather than create new adventurous content just for the web.
Sure, there are a few publicly-funded experiments out there that spend big money to license and try to monetize online but seem to be failing. Then there is YOUTUBE-style sites that rely on users to create, promote and recommend content. You get what you pay for here. It is almost always an unsanctioned video of something that gets all the hits.
In the future, content online will have the same demands placed on it that any kind of popular content has, the only difference is that distribution will be much harder. How to do you show how beautiful your tree is in a forest of 100 million trees? Well, the same old same old will take hold for sure: Promotion through mainstream means, popularity by discovery and paid promotion to get an audience. Video will likely not become a million channel universe, but a means to find what you want, verify it is the best out there, and generates income for the content creator. It won't be long before the behemoths that make our movies and TV shows will take this space when the small players just give up.
Keep watching what companies do online with video over the next year or so. Technology is stagnant for video. It is as invented as it can be and still be useful right now. The next year will show us what humans can really do with the video streaming we all demanded 10 years ago. Now it has arrived and stabilized as a technology. Let's see how money is made with it now.
Mike Wixson
RedFish Studios
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