Online Video Grows Up
November 25th, 2007 by Patrick
About a year ago, I posted a lengthy, poorly researched piece suggesting that user-generated video was not the future of on-line entertainment because most of it sucked, and that professional content would be the mainstay of the YouTubes of tomorrow.
Well kudos to me for stating the obvious, because now Businessweek has jumped on my bandwagon and pointed out pretty much what I said last October. Of course, they use “facts” and “data”, rather than the unsubstantiated opinion approach that I favour, but they arrive at pretty much the same conclusions. Essentially, as online video looks to make money, skateboard accidents and teen lip-syncing are simply not enough of a draw. Professional news, comedy and music videos are more and more starting to look like the only things most people are willing to sit through pre-roll or ad crawls for.
There are exceptions of course - there are always going to be talented amateurs who manage to produce real entertainment on a hope and a handycam. The problem, in terms of trying to run a business, is consistency. Long tail of the web nothwithstanding, it’s not a business model to throw a bunch of crap at the wall and hope that enough of it sticks to attract advertisers. People these days have a short attention span, and it’s easier to go where you know there’s going to be something worth watching.
It’s not a bad thing;the web is big enough for everybody and there will always be places for the average Joe or Jane to get exposure to a wide audience. However, focusing on material that draws an audience creates a return on investment for online video sites, so the talented folks who create professional content will keep getting paid (except for writers, the lazy bastards).
Still, it’s another one of those bi-weekly culture shifts that the digital age keeps springing on us. The idea that looked so good a couple years ago - stealing content and giving it away for free - is being replaced by a more traditional “pay for stuff and sell it” model. What that means is that whoever gets the content, gets the eyeballs, and the revenue. How you feeling about YouTube now, Google?