Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy
Video, filmmaking, marketing and the web
This isn’t exactly news, but it was news to me, my tech-savvy nephews, and a lot of other knowledgeable folks including a pro video producer I showed it to…
Video cameras are now disposable – or at least one company called Pure Digital is selling them that way…
This week, Tivo announced that its customers will be able to view video content off the web on their television sets.
Apple announced it has partnered with major airlines to let passengers power their iPods in flight and watch iPod videos in their seats.
It’s all part of the great migration… from absolute control by television programmers to absolute control by television consumers.
I’ve afound that in order to see wherethe Internet is headed, it’s a good idea to be informed about where they’ve been.
Take video on the Internet. Now that the YouTube/Google sale has put Internet video on the map, what’s next?
Does it make sense for Google to spend $1.65 billion to buy YouTube?
Sure it does – as long as they’ve figured out how to solve THE PROBLEM…
I love the contrast between the media created fantasy of business and the cold, hard reality of what’s actually going on…
This story probably has no practical business application and yet it’s an important sign of how radically our relationship to video has changed in just the last 12 months…
Continue reading “It’s a sign – actually a belt buckle billboard”
Theoretically, AOL-Time Warner has a massive advantage in the Internet Video Wars over YouTube, Google, Yahoo and just about anyone else who’s in the game.
That asset is content – and holy smokes does AOL-Time Warner have video content!
Here’s a list of what they’ve got…
Google has been watching YouTube from the sidelines for quite a while now. In fact, as one of the company’s financial backers and technical advisors, they’ve had a chance to get a real good look under the hood.
And sure enough, by bit, Google Video has become more YouTube-like.
First they added a user-ranking system. Then they made it possible for viewers to add comments. Just like YouTube.
Now Google has taken off the gloves: they’ve put Google Video on their home page.
The end of YouTube?
Not immediately, but other than their fast head start, there is nothing that YouTube is doing that Google can’t duplicate and do a lot more proifitably given its ad network and the prodigious amount of traffic it attracts.
Ken McCarthy
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Remember all my rants last fall about the impending implosion of old-style television.
The numbers are in.
The week of July 4th was the worst week for television ratings in "recorded history."
I’m not sure what that means since there were zero television viewers in 1940, but since the Associated Press reported it, there’s probably a kernal of truth in there somewhere.
But here’s the bottom line: The television industry as we’ve known it is dead on its feet – they just don’t realize it yet.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060711/ap/d8iq1l8g0.html
Ken McCarthy
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In football, it’s called the "Hail Mary" play.
(Maybe it originated at Notre Dame, who knows?)
Anyway, a "Hail Mary" play is when you’re down and there’s not much time left on the clock and you throw the ball long – and then PRAY that your receiver catches it.
AOL is in DEEP trouble. It’s hemmoraging customers at the rate of 2,000,000 a year. If they keep that up, pretty soon there won’t be an AOL.
So what are they gonna do?
They’re tapping their video content…
Remember it’s AOL-Time Warner and the Time Warner part has a ton of video – movies, television programs, special interested productions.
The launch is scheduled for today:
Here’s the URL: http://www.aolvideo.com
Ken McCarthy
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