Bob's blog

It's a video world

It seems like there's a new user generated or collaborative video site coming on-line everyday. The sites may not be proliferating that quickly, but there's been a tremendous number of announcements over the last few months from both community-oriented and corporate-sponsored web sites.

It's hard to say where this all started - was it with YouTube or are the roots of the community/"reality" programming further back? I think the first dedicated show based on user generated content may have been America's Funniest Home Videos with host Bob Saget which started in 1989 making it the second longest running show on ABC. Although, Wikipedia calls Allen Funt's Candid Camera one of the earliest reality shows.

The question isn't really where or when this started, but rather where is it going? There's room for many different business models so I don't think it's a choice between YouTube or AOLVideo or Google Video. It's not really even a choice between Joost or NBC or the CW.

There will continue to be a need for linear television programming for the near future. The audience, network programmers and advertisers will all demand that. But, the increased availability of on demand content will continue to drive alternate viewing models for both time shifted and place shifted content. As content owners and distributors continue to embrace video delivered over IP, consumption models will expand and proliferate. Each view will determine their own mix of ad supported, subscription and free content to consume where and when it's appropriate.

These factors will continue to drive change as users have more options for their entertainment time and money. There's some very compelling content online that's available for free (and some's even legally obtained - check out Hal's t-shirt). But the key question is what viewing circumstances will cause you to choose free or paid content? If you're paying for the right to view content, what do you consider when looking at sources of content and viewing options. I think it's more about access and personalization and trust. You'll look at recommendations from your friends or the community for video from user generated content and you'll pay for content where you find value (for example, a live baseball game). There's a very low barrier to sample content, you can find shows or parts of shows and many web sites to see if it's interesting to you. If it is, that's when you decide how and when you'll watch that content.

There's been a lot of progress towards viewing content more flexibly. That's only going to get better as more content is created and made available for access in many different ways. How you access the content will be your decision.

Related note: I saw Hal Stern's blog today and found this when I followed the link:

Posted at 01:34PM May 30, 2007 by bs in General  |