http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/2006/12/31/the-free-video-meal-will-end-in-2007/ Analyzing And Reporting On The Social Media Revolution Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:49:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/2006/12/31/the-free-video-meal-will-end-in-2007/#comment-1382 Rob Safuto Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:28:09 +0000 http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/2006/12/31/the-free-video-meal-will-end-in-2007/#comment-1382 Seems like Google and MySpace have enough cash to do whatever they want in online video for quite a while. I think some of the smaller players are hoping for acquisition. The other big fish (Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL) seem to be doing their own thing. I think they're going to be very careful not to wade into potential copyright issues. There's definitely a value service in providing reliable video hosting for blogs and podcasts. But now that the bar is set at a price of $0 it makes it harder for anyone else to implement a sane business model. Seems like Google and MySpace have enough cash to do whatever they want in online video for quite a while. I think some of the smaller players are hoping for acquisition. The other big fish (Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL) seem to be doing their own thing. I think they’re going to be very careful not to wade into potential copyright issues. There’s definitely a value service in providing reliable video hosting for blogs and podcasts. But now that the bar is set at a price of $0 it makes it harder for anyone else to implement a sane business model.

]]> http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/2006/12/31/the-free-video-meal-will-end-in-2007/#comment-1379 Bruce Prokopets Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:54:06 +0000 http://blog.awakenedvoice.com/2006/12/31/the-free-video-meal-will-end-in-2007/#comment-1379 I'm really not sure how any of these video sites expect to get into the black. Especially since the cost to serve video is SIGNIFICANTLY more than I could probably imagine. But let's face it, YouTube has the market because they have the market, not because they have great content. That's not to say there isn't some good stuff up there, but their magic comes from smassive volume. Also, they have an ad support model, which does not scale consistently. That is to say, if they only had "good" content and got rid of pseudoporn and commercials, would the remaining visitors be any more likely to click ads? Google knows more about that stuff, so I feel as though the GooTube deal was really like Google buying a lifetime license of the technology to distribute the video and the community was a value add (or visa versa). In the end, as much as I love how easy it is to produce, distribute, and aggregate video these days, I'd have to say the innovation is lacking. Most of this boom is thanks to broadband and flash, not YouTube per se. I'd like to see more interactivity built into video. VideoEgg has pretty cool overlay ads, I'd love to see a platform that lets me ad my own overlays or some way to make video non-linear (in-player navigation of segments, mouse overs, user annotation, deep tagging, interactive overlays, etc). I would easily pay for that!! I’m really not sure how any of these video sites expect to get into the black. Especially since the cost to serve video is SIGNIFICANTLY more than I could probably imagine. But let’s face it, YouTube has the market because they have the market, not because they have great content. That’s not to say there isn’t some good stuff up there, but their magic comes from smassive volume. Also, they have an ad support model, which does not scale consistently. That is to say, if they only had “good” content and got rid of pseudoporn and commercials, would the remaining visitors be any more likely to click ads? Google knows more about that stuff, so I feel as though the GooTube deal was really like Google buying a lifetime license of the technology to distribute the video and the community was a value add (or visa versa). In the end, as much as I love how easy it is to produce, distribute, and aggregate video these days, I’d have to say the innovation is lacking. Most of this boom is thanks to broadband and flash, not YouTube per se. I’d like to see more interactivity built into video. VideoEgg has pretty cool overlay ads, I’d love to see a platform that lets me ad my own overlays or some way to make video non-linear (in-player navigation of segments, mouse overs, user annotation, deep tagging, interactive overlays, etc). I would easily pay for that!!

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