Technology360

Web Video: Move Over, Amateurs

Catherine Holahan writes:

... One after another, online video sites that have long showcased such fare as skateboarding dogs and beer-drenched parties are scaling back their focus on user-generated clips, often in favor of professionally produced programming. "People would rather watch content that has production value than watch their neighbors in the garage," says Matt Sanchez, co-founder and chief executive of VideoEgg, a company that provides Web video tools, ads, and advertising features for online video providers and Web application developers.  ¶  On Nov. 13 social networking site Bebo said it would open its pages to top media companies in hopes of luring and engaging viewers. "As more and more interesting content from major media brands becomes available, [online viewers] are going to share that more and more because those are the brands they identify with," says Bebo President Joanna Shields. ...

Link:  BusinessWeek.  --Dennis

Miro reaches release 1.0

Daniel Langendorf writes:

Miro, the free open-source video player, has reached 1.0 and launched a spiffy player for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Drop what you’re doing and go get it.  ¶ Miro is that good.  ¶  Miro is an alternative to Joost, Windows Media, and iTunes for downloading, watching, and organizing your video. We wrote on it extensively in July, and since then it has improved even more. ...

Link:  last100.  It's great to see what this bootstrap organization is able to pull off on a shoestring.  I've not tried this yet because my ISP is n0t BitTorrent-friendly, but my son loves it.  --Dennis

How traditional media companies approach new media

Natalie Fonseca writes of Quincy Smith's presentation (he's president of CBS Interactive) at NewTeeVee Live:

... So what has Big Media learned?  ¶  More than 80% of the volume in video today is clips, not full-length episodes. Even in Asia where broadband penetration and speeds outpace the U.S., the trend is still toward viewing clips. In CBS’ case, 80% of visitors to its Web site do watch full episodes, but the focus is on bringing in new customers by getting CBS content out to the masses where ever they are on the Net. Which is why CBS has over 285 partners helping to syndicate its content online. ...

Link:  last100.  --Dennis

Broadcasters woo 'lost generation' in deal with social networking site Bebo

Owen Gibson writes:

The UK's biggest social networking site yesterday announced partnerships with a string of broadcasters, including the BBC, Channel 4, Sky, ITN and CBS, in a move hailed as one of the most significant yet in marrying old and new media.  ¶  Traditional broadcasters hope that distributing and marketing their programmes to Bebo's 40 million users will help them reconnect with the so-called "lost TV generation" of 13 to 24-year-olds who make up the social networking site's core audience.  ¶  It will allow Bebo users to collect and curate clips from BBC programmes such as Doctor Who and EastEnders, behind-the-scenes MTV footage, ITN entertainment news and a host of other items within their own "Personal Video Profile", displaying them on their homepage and sharing them with friends. ... 

Link:  The Guardian.  Link to Bebo. 

Also see, TV clips made available on Bebo.  Link:  BBC News.

Update:
Also see Daniel Langendorf, Social networking site Bebo aligns itself with TV, film and music companies.  Link:  last100.  --Dennis

NPR Music beta, more

Consultant Fred Jacobs has a well-deserved rave review of the new NPR Music site in a post called The Content Mountain.  He writes about why this is important for radio.  Link:  jacoBLOG.

Update:
Daniel Langendorf also has a postive review, NPR opens up NPR Music for our listening pleasure.  Link: last100.  --Dennis

NPR Music beta

Congratulations to National Public Radio's Maria Thomas, Sr. V.P., NPR Digital Media, and her team for the launch last week of the NPR Music beta.  I was there for a launch celebration at NPR Hq on Tuesday.  From the news release:

... NPR  Music is a creative collaboration with KEXP and KPLU Seattle; KUT Austin; WBGO Newark; WDUQ Pittsburgh; WFUV and WNYC New York; WGBH Boston; WGUC Cincinnati; Folk Alley.com (WKSU) Kent, Ohio; WXPN Philadelphia, and Minnesota Public Radio. With their deep connection into local arts communities, their incredible music libraries and archives, and their respected on-air hosts and DJs, these stations have invested real energy and resources into the communities they serve.  NPR Music allows you to move beyond the geographic boundaries of radio signals and discover the authentic sense of place created by stations across the country. We expect additional NPR stations and public radio producers, as well as other contributors, to join this collaborative effort in the coming months and years. ...

Link:  NPR.  Early reaction from listeners has been very encouraging.

Disclosure:  I'm on the NPR board of directors and on Wednesday was elected as its chairman for the next 12 months. 

Update:
Also see Rob Paterson's, The New NPR Music Site - A Model for Social Media.  Link:  FASTforward.  --Dennis

Does Web Distribution Stimulate or Depress Television Viewing?

Joel Waldfogel of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has published a study of students at his university on this.  Here is his abstract:

In the past few years, YouTube and other sites for sharing video files over the Internet have vaulted from obscurity to places of centrality in the media landscape. The files available at YouTube include a mix of user-generated video and clips from network television shows. Networks fear that availability of their clips on YouTube will depress television viewing. But unauthorized clips are also free advertising for television shows. As YouTube has grown quickly, major networks have responded by making their content available at their own sites. This paper examines the effects of authorized and unauthorized web distribution on television viewing between 2005 and 2007 using a survey of Penn students on their tendencies to watch television series on television as well as on the web. The results provide a glimpse of the way young, Internet-connected people use YouTube and related sites. While I find some evidence of substitution of web viewing for conventional television viewing, time spent viewing programming on the web – 4 hours per week – far exceeds the reduction in weekly traditional television viewing of about 25 minutes. Overall time spent on network-controlled viewing (television plus network websites) increased by 1.5 hours per week.

Link:  Wharton School (pdf).  Thanks to Eric Bangeman for the tip in his post, Study: proliferation of web video a blessing to networks.  Link:  Ars Technica.

Updated 11 November 2007:
For another view, see Richard Wray's, Young networkers turn off TV and long on to the web: 

... The EIAA study shows the effect on TV viewing, especially among the youth audience which is using the internet more often than TV for the first time.  The survey shows that 82% of 16- to 24-year-olds use the web between five and seven days a week while only 77% watch TV as regularly - a drop of 5% from last year. ...

Link:  The Guardian.  --Dennis

TV - Moving to online

Rob Paterson makes the case that the television economy is about to hit an iceberg:

... The Iceberg is the weight of money that is leaving conventional media and going to the web. My forecast is that 2008 will be the year - 2008 will be the year where the web/digital will become where the ad money will go - the work for all providers of all types of content then will be to reset their universe.  ¶  Today most people in TV and radio see the web as a growing and important channel. In 2008, the smart people will see the web as the primary channel and that their old channel is now the supporting channel. Of course most will not see this and they will be lucky to find a life boat. ...

Link:  FASTForward Blog.

Update 31 October 2007:
In his post, Rob mentions Hulu, the NBC + News Corp joint venture.  Liz Gannes has an overview of it in Hulu Debuts to Meet Foes and Find Friends.  Link:  NewTeeVee.  --Dennis

Video-to-go on a thumb drive

Here's an interesting idea.  Porto Media lets you download a movie to a thumb drive from a kiosk or ATM in about a half-minute.  IBM has a video profile (transcript also).  Link:  IBM.  --Dennis

Joost to offer live TV

FierceIPTV is reporting:

Internet TV operator Joost has promised live programming beginning in early 2008, with a senior executive telling the Mipcom program market in Cannes that Joost hoped to secure more European sports rights. Joost, which released its beta software earlier this month, has secured online rights to Major League Baseball's World Series and playoffs and U.K. premier league soccer highlights. ...

Link:  FierceIPTV. 

Also see, Joost goes live as well as offering video on demand.  Link:  informitv.  --Dennis