Web Video Might Not Be a Fad

eMarketer has some new predictions about the growth in online video and the numbers look good.  You can check them all out on their site.

What I found far more intriguing were some comments about the move away from getting viewers to come to your site and, instead, delivering the content to viewers wherever they are.

“All the networks are moving toward super-distribution, where the content is available in every possible outlet,” said Mike Henry, senior vice president of ad sales at Veoh. “They realize they’re not always going to be the destination of choice.” Patrick Keane, EVP and CMO of CBS Interactive, put it another way in a September 2007 Jack Myers Media Business Report article.

“Instead of trying to ferret our users to one place, let’s follow our users and bring our content to them,”

Sounds like some people are starting to wake up to the new realities.

Nine Inch Nails Gives it Away

Nine Inch Nails is following in the footsteps of a growing number of bands that have left the traditional world of labels and is self-distributing their own work.

In addition, they are offering fans the chance to download their basic album in for free, without any DRM.   As PaidContent points out, though, that’s just the beginning:

” — $5 download: All 36 tracks in a variety of digital formats, plus a 40-page PDF.
— $10 two-disc set: A double-disc set, packaged in a Digipak with a 16-page booklet, to be shipped on April 8. Includes immediate download of album.
— $75 deluxe edition: Ghosts I-IV in a “hardcover fabric slipcase containing two audio CDs, one data DVD with all tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-Ray disc of Ghosts I-IV. Ships May 1. Includes immediate download of album.
— $300 “ultra-deluxe limited edition package”: Deluxe edition plus a four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl, which is packaged in a fabric slipcase. Two limited-edition Giclee prints are included; package is numbered and signed by Trent Reznor. Limited to a run of 2500, and one piece per customer. Ships May 1 and includes immediate download.”

This is definitely beginning to be a seriously interesting marketplace with so many bands exploring alternatives to traditional distribution and monetization methods.  It will be neat to see if they release reliable sales data so everyone can learn from their experiment.

As Mashable notes:

“Let me just stop here for a second and say that personally, I haven’t listened to NiN much since the Downward Spiral phase, but if there’s one album I’m gonna buy this year (I usually go to concerts and buy t-shirts, as I feel the band profits more directly from this; I have quite a collection), it’s going to be this one. Finally, you get good value for your money, and you get a fantastic number of options which cater to every pocket. I’m sure that fans will realize this and get the option they can afford, be it free, or the ultra-deluxe one.”

The End of Networks

It’s exciting to see really big names in the media world coming out and saying something I’ve been talking about for a while – that the Age of the Networks is drawing to a close.

“Warner Bros. TV’s president said the studios will bypass broadcast networks next decade using broadband and cellular. “We will go directly to consumers with content,” President Bruce Rosenblum said Tuesday in a notably candid insider’s talk to Stanford law students. “Your generation” is witnessing “a complete disaggregation of the networks,” he said. Warner leads in supplying prime-time shows to the networks, and going around those big customers will usher in an era that will be very expensive for his business but offer it exciting prospects…”

See the whole article here (via NewTeeVee)

2008 – The Year of the Podcast?

Emarketer has some new data on Podcast subscribers.  Turns out that not only are the number of subscribers growing but they cover quite a wide demographic.

“They don’t all listen to the same programs, they don’t all use iPods, and they don’t all come from the same background.

They are podcast users, and they defy clear-cut connections between usage and factors such as gender, age and income level.

“

More delicious data here.  I really think Podcasts are the indie distributors best friend.

An argument for Podcasting

I think I mentioned podcasting in an earlier post.  I believe podcasting will be key to the development and survival of webisodics.  Instead of telling you why, I draw your attention to the thoughts of AskANinja, one of the early web-video success stories (as found on Mashable)

“Note to producers, please, please, please, only use these sharing sites to gain an audience, make a little cash, and direct users to your own sites.

The real money comes from being able to prove that you have an audience that will follow you wherever you go. That means Podcasting and creating a strong URL for your property. With that audience and URL you’ll be able to partner with whomever will give you the most cash for your skills.”

Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins of Mashable goes on to say:

“Most importantly, don’t ignore podcasting your video. Sure, it can be a pain in the butt to spend the extra hour or more encoding your video into yet another format, but by podcasting your videos, you are locking in a subscriber base that will be waiting hungrily every day for your next episode. You can get lost in the jungle of listings on the embedded video site, and even if they absolutely love your work, there’s no guarantees they’ll return to see the sequel. If you encourage them to subscribe to your feed for free, you know that you’ve pushed your content out towards the most devoted of your fanbase (these are the guys most likely to buy your schwag or forward your video to other potential fans).

Not to mention that while YouTube may be showing up in more and more distribution venues these days, podcasting is already the portable data format that can be used on everything from a Zune to an iPod to an AppleTV to a TiVo to a ….”

They’ve said it all for me.  Ah, the internet.

What I’m reading

I’m making my way through Seth Godin’s 2000 piece “Unleasing the Ideavirus” which you can download for free from the site.  Nothing really ground-breaking – it is eight years old now – but a good recap of how thinking about marketing (and therefore distribution) is evolving and changing.

It’s a bit too “Tipping Point” for my taste but worth a skim.

Mass Syndication

Some commentary from Mashable about NextNewNetworks deciding to syndicate to MySpaceTV.  More and more content distributors are realizing the need to actually use the internet for what it is designed for – mass distribution and copying – instead of trying to force it into old models of media behavior.

The big question is, if all the current distributors begin to cross-pollinate and I can find the same things everywhere I look, what is the fate of sites designed around the idea of drawing traffic directly to them.

As tools for “curating” (see my earlier post) expand and I can self-design a “site” that collects everything I want to see and consume, thus saving me the trouble of surfing completely, i think there will be a major shift in the relationship between content creators and those in the role of distributor.

Hey look! Another web comedy site!

Via Tilzy, a great blog about original web video that everyone should put on their list, is a recap of what can be found at the latest, greatest, comedy web site, Independent Comedy Network.

I’m not going to bother giving my review of their current content – plenty of others have.  Instead, I think it is worth wondering if this is a real model for the future or is 2008 going to be the year we watch as SuperDeluxe, FunnyOrDie, MyDamnChannel,  60Frames, etc will either dry up or re-purpose themselves in some manner?

In many ways, these sites are no different than NBC or FOX, they just have a lot less money and lower overhead.  They still have to drive viewers to their content and hope they can sell those eyeballs to the advertisers.  How long before the content creators realize they can work DIRECTLY with the brands and cut out the network altogether.

Is the web going to be a world about specific sites, as it has tended to be so far, or will content finally, truly be king, and who distributes the content can become the simple middleman it is meant to be.