Cable/satellite folks agree with Diane Christensen when it comes to the iNet…“I don’t see we have any options, Frank. Let’s kill the son-of-a-bitch.”
These people who are only glorified pipelines moving stuff from there to here. While they have traditionally played the same game as the TV people (gross numbers) they’re getting more than a little beat up by Web 2.0 because firms like comScore can track down to specific users, not just households.
Cable and satellite people don’t quite agree Frank Hackett who said, “We’re not a respectable network. We’re a whorehouse network, and we have to take whatever we can get.” Not out loud anyway. That’s why cable folks are working together on an ad scheme they call canoe (they’re all in it together) to show better ROI for customer marketing dollars.
As if the production and pipeline people didn’t have enough pressure already, they haven’t missed the fact that increasingly online users are watching more and more user generated video (UGV).
Certainly most of the UGV is mindless, throw-away garbage. But increasingly there are very creative, very professional people out there who are learning they can make a living with their UG content.
Figure 5 – New Generation Producers — Because high quality camcorders, cheap video ready computers and inexpensive/easy-to-use video production software is so readily available we are seeing a new generation of content (audio/video) writers, editors, producers, directors emerge. The content creators are taking advantage of the cheap Web 2.0 content delivery mechanism. Source — eMarketer
comScore reported:
- Last December 10 billion online videos were viewed … in the US alone
- Nearly 141 million Americas watched online videos that month
- Online viewers watched an average of 3.4 hours, increase of 34% over 1st of the year
- 1.68 million non-exclusive videos were added to UGV libraries last year
- Market is forecast to grow 52% this year and reach 34 billion views
Somewhere in Tellywood we’re certain that a VP said to his/her underlings exactly what Diane said to her staff…“I want ideas from you people. This is what you’re paid for. And by the way, the next time I send an audience research report around, you’d all better read it, or I’ll sack the f***ing lot of you. Is that clear?”
Why? Suddenly people are turning Chris Anderson’s Long Tail on its ear. Sure they watch some of the stuff Tellywood turns out but increasingly (as when TV first hit the home); they are becoming more selective, more discerning.
They are interested in what might be referred to as non-professional (or non-Tellywood) videos.
Figure 6 – Reversed Long Tail – While Hollywood would like to convince the courts that their declining sales are due solely to online video thieves/viewers, the brutal fact is that Web 2.0 has delivered a world of new content to your monitor. This enables users (consumers) to be more selective in what they capture, what they watch. Source — Alcatel
They are more intent on viewing what might be called narrowcast content, subjects they can selectively pay for or content services they can subscribe to that mesh with their interest areas.
Ned Beatty’s view of the TV connected world is disintegrating…“There are no nations; there are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems; one vast, interwoven, interacting, multivaried, multinational dominion of dollars.”
Listen Closely — All human beings are becoming humanoids. All over the world, not just in America. We’re just getting there faster since we’re the most advanced country. Source — MGM
Instead there are a growing number of connected communities that share interests, ideas and content. It is a market that is rapidly orienting itself from Tellywood control to an opportunity for indie producers to directly connect with their audience and be instantly compensated rather than watch distributors and pipeline owners live off their creative efforts.
True none of these content producers will ever achieve a 50 share (that’s TV talk) but they will have complete control over their creative endeavors.
They will also have immediate feedback from their audience… good… bad… indifferent… vindictive! This type of competition makes it extremely difficult for Tellywood and their pipe suppliers to maintain control over and dictate what content you want to view in the years ahead.
It might…Just might drive them round the bend!!
